Oracle?s pursuit of a hostile takeover of People Soft has turned into hand-to-hand combat. Deception has emerged as one of the more unsavory weapons in the bruising struggle.

The People Soft board of directors fired its CEO, Craig Conway, in October after it became clear that Conway had lied to financial analysts. A year earlier - in September of 2003 - analysts had asked Conway if Oracle?s bid was affecting adversely its corporate sales. Conway denied that was the case.

Last month I accepted an invitation to speak at a most unusual leadership event. I use the word ?speak? advisedly, because it was not a typical keynote delivery. The event, called the Thought Leader Gathering (TLG), looked for me to spark ideas and creativity, not produce them on my own.

Wall Street insiders and much of the financial press could not stop humming Google?s requiem in the final days prior to the company?s lurch into the publicly traded stock market this past August.

?The Google golden boys who could do no wrong as they built an Internet search-engine powerhouse have gotten a harsh lesson in the dangers of Hubris.com,? crowed USA Today on the eve of Google?s IPO.

Over the last few days I took part in a unique business conference in Switzerland called, ?Spirit in Business.? And no, ?As If? was not the conference subtitle. Honestly, I was impressed that among the attendees included so many entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who who simply did not want to continue to work in ventures that lacked soul.