From Rulers to Rogues

Amazing.

Three big-wig media execs. Three big media hits. All in three big business days.

Andy Lack out at NBC.

Steve Case out at AOL Time Warner.

Walter Isaacson out at CNN.

The Sopranos has nothing on these guys.

In the closest thing to a media version of the St. Valentine's Day massacre, anyone who was "in" was "out" -- rubbed out.

I'm still trying to figure out what happened. I think I know: nothing good lasts forever.

You can be king of the world one day, a chump the next.

Napoleon said it best when he lamented he'd not be remembered for his hundreds of victories, but his one loss, Waterloo. And he was a general who had armies. These guys are left with nothing more than reputations.

Andy Lack's apparently good enough to get the top job at Sony Music.

Walter Isaacson's apparently cerebral enough to get a job at the Aspen Institute.

Steve Case... who knows.

Yet each, for a while, was king in his world. It's a very different world now. One they can't control -- one that still moves on. And one that grinds egos cruelly, making duds of darlings, scum of saints and turning rulers into rogues -- sometimes in little more than months.

My dad used to say, "Neil, stay humble. In your case it will come in handy."

He knew the corporate world well and always kept his head and ego in check. It's a pity these guys might have forgotten that and are now living to regret it.

Watch Neil Cavuto's Common Sense weekdays at 4 p.m. ET on Your World w/Cavuto.