A friend just passed me a link to this wonderful article about the public disclosure of the health of executive officers of a company.

Right now there are no laws/rules in place with the United States government or SEC that requires senior management and other high ranking officials to disclose serious illness to stock holders. Part of me agrees completely with this in that the health of an individual is a private matter and should not have to be disclosed to the public. The inventor part of me says screw that!

The particular CEO in the article is none other than Apple Computers CEO, Steve Jobs. In the past, Steve has been diagnosed with a tumor on his pancreas that was "cured" with surgery. He has recently been seen in public looking very haggard and slim. When called on his health, Apple's only public response was: "Steve loves Apple, Steve's health is a private matter."

So this begs the question, should a publicly traded company be required to disclose serious health issues about it's senior management team? In most cases it wouldn't matter all that much, but in this case the implications are HUGE. Without Jobs, Apple is far less of a company. His track record of innovation and marketing excellence are what keeps the Apple stock price at a staggering out of control high. If he were to fall seriously ill, Apple stock would (and rightfully should) plummet.

So should companies be required to report on the health of their senior management team? They all have to get physicals for insurance, so why not make them disclose their results to the world? Thoughts?

Oh, and one other thing, there really are some awesome quote magnets out there, and much like Linus Torvalds, Steve Jobs doesn't disappoint:

"This is Steve Jobs. You think I'm an arrogant [expletive] who thinks he's above the law, and I think you're a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong." (Quoted from NY Times article located here)