If today’s Wall Street Journal story is correct, and the ouster of Hewlett-Packard CEO Leo Apotheker has been discussed in HP’s boardrooms, then he is finished. You can’t head an organization that large if employees believe there’s any sort of doubt about your leadership, or that you’re temporary in any way. Like any acid, that uncertainty will eat away at any initiative or change he tries to bring about. Even customers will begin to doubt him. Unless this story is knocked down immediately and authoritatively by HP’s board, he’s done.