Geez, haven't you people heard of the power of positive thinking?

Nortel Networks puts out a cheery little press release and you're all dumping on this poor little $13.8-billion technology company. Worse, even some analysts had trouble seeing the rosy picture through their rose-coloured glasses.

On the morning of June 10, I was trying to perk up shares in Starbucks (SBUC) on my seventh cup of coffee just after the opening bell, and already stock in Nortel (TSX:NT) was down eight per cent, this despite the fact that there was not one line in the press release about the company restating restated financial results from the second quarter of 1905. Everybody was being so negative (the stock lost nine per cent by day's end, or more than $1 billion in market cap). We really need to be spending more time with the Tony Robbins of chief executive officers, that of course being our hero, Bill Owens.

Owens is the one-time U.S. military second-in-command who is now the first-in'-command chief executive officer of Nortel. OK, I'll admit the opening paragraph of the press release, stating that president and chief operating officer Gary Daichendt had resigned, may have caused some angst among those of you who own eight million shares at $124 in this wonderful little Canadian company.

The glass-is-half-empty people who dumped their shares in great haste must think that Custer lost the Battle of the Little Bighorn - no doubt they forgot to read the story's second paragraph?

According to Owens, "GARY HAS MADE A MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO NORTEL DURING HIS TIME HERE AND HAS ADDED VALUE TO OUR STRATEGIC INITIATIVES AND BUSINESS PLAN.”

The capital letters are for those of you who missed this crucial quote on the first read.

There was not a peep about any accounting challenges. So what's not to like here?

In just three months as president and COO, Daichendt "ADDED VALUE.”

Even if you're Ross Healy, the president of Strategic Analysis Corp., you've got to admit that's a very positive development. Never mind that Owens, in saluting Daichendt, didn't elaborate on where the value was added. You must understand the man's rather busy, you know, now that he has added two new titles to his collection, assuming Daichendt's roles as COO and president.

Alert press-release readers should be highlighting the phrases "STRATEGIC INITIATIVES" and "BUSINESS PLAN.”

Admit it. This is one heck of a company. Strategic initiatives sure beats the heck out of: "DELAYED FINANCIAL RESULTS DELAYED."

Never mind that quote from Owens about "divergent management styles" being a factor in Daichendt's resignation. It happens in the military.

What's important is that Nortel, whose stock is down a piddling 98 per cent in the past five years, "HAS WORLD-CLASS TECHNOLOGY AND PEOPLE."

No, Tony Robbins, the positive-thinking guru, didn't say that. Those are Daichendt's words, based on his long and distinguished three-month tenure with the Brampton-based company. Take it to the bank, Matilda.

Really, if you study the press release, hardly anything has changed at Nortel with the departure of Daichendt, the former senior manager with Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) who was considered the heir apparent to Owens.

As Owens stated in the release, Nortel is march forward: "YOU CAN BE CERTAIN THAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE AS A BROAD-BASED CARRIER AND ENTERPRISE NETWORKING COMPANY.

WE HAVE A STRONG BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY TEAM WITH SIGNIFICANT DEPTH AND EXPERIENCE THAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO BUILD ON."

That may be the first time you've read those comments, considering that many heartless newspaper editors, who have obviously never met Bill Owens or Tony Robbins, slashed those critical words from the story.

OK, the last paragraph did mention that Gary Kunis, the chief technology officer who had worked alongside Daichendt at Cisco, "will also be leaving the company."

But, heck, who needs a chief technology officer when you already have a chief executive officer, a chief financial officer, a chief legal officer, a chief ethics and compliance officer, a chief market officer, a chief research officer, a chief strategy officer (no jokes, please) and a chief information officer?

Which leads us to the obvious angle on this story, overlooked by the media. General Custer will be the next CEO of Nortel. Take that to the bank.

* GOSSIP BOARDS: How does money manager Peter Brieger view the innuendo and lies that dominate investment message boards?

"It's like a bunch of goddam old women hanging around the well in an ancient town with nothing better to do than yap about whatever came up," Brieger, chairman and chief investment officer of GlobeInvest Capital Management, tells the Edge.

Brieger, a 43-year veteran of the investment business, has been the target of childish personal attacks on a Zed.i Solutions (TSXV:ZED) messageboard at the Stockhouse investment site, where many posters have been venting over the collapse of Zed.i shares. Brieger has recommended Zed.i as one of his top picks on ROB-TV's Market Call program and in Business Edge.

While Brieger is taking personal attacks in stride, he takes exception to chatboard rumours that he has sold shares in Zed.i Solutions. He adamantly denies those rumours, saying that he, his family and clients of the wealth-management firm haven't sold a single share in the Calgary gasfield technology company. Shares in the company are down about 50 per cent since May.

"Quite frankly, what's important is that I can look at myself in the mirror every morning," he said. "I can say, OK, we may be offside a little bit here, but you ask, 'Have you been honest?' and the answer is yes. Then you ask, 'Have you been professionally competent?' and the answer is yes. For example, I flew to Calgary and spent five hours with the company before we even bought the first share, and we've kept in touch quarterly, if not more regularly, ever since. So I think I've discharged my professional responsibilities.

"Last but not least, as an ROB contributor, there's a huge onus on any guest on that show to be totally honest and forthright, and try to add value. And I think I've done that. So if the chatlines are going to make mincemeat of me, or try to, then so be it. If, in fact, we lost an account because of some comments on a chatline, we sure the heck would try and find out who said it and then we might well have a discussion with our lawyers. In one respect, I feel bad for managements because they're trying to run a company and here you have these turkeys writing all this stuff."

Brieger also pointed out that his clients' average cost on Zed.i shares was in the $1.50 range where the stock recently traded.

* SAGE WORDS: "Nortel is in the penalty box and I think it's going to take some time to get out."

- Josef Schachter, president of Schachter Asset Management, (Business Edge, May 6, 2004, after CEO Frank Dunn was fired for cause and replaced by Owens.)

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(Gyle Konotopetz can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)