The Ottawa Citizen's James Bagnell has a great story into why Nortel COO Garry Daichendt abruptly left last month after only three months at the helm. Apparently, Daichendt went into a board meeting with CTO Gary Kunis to discuss their strategic plan. Before he started, Daichendt said he and his wife had asked God for guidance. God's message, Daichendt disclosed, was he should replace Bill Owens as CEO, and CFO Peter Currie, who was seen as Owens' successor before Daichendt was hired, should leave. If this is an accurate depiction of what happened, it's an incredible, mystifying story. It also explains why Owens danced around the topic during last week's AGM when he emphasized on several occasions that Daichendt resigned because of different management styles rather than strategic differences. Still, the enduring question is why the board and Owens didn't realize something like this situation had the potential to happen when they were interviewing Daichendt and doing their due diligence. From all accounts, Daichendt is well-respected but he had been out of the telecom industry for five years so it wasn't like he wanted to come back to just be #2. Perhaps Nortel had good intentions and were so giddy about securing Daichendt's services, they overlooked any weaknesses. In any event, Bagnell's story is a must read for anyone interested in Nortel.