Some will argue that the executive sacking at Home Depot illustrates the rising clout of activist investors. Truth be told, I can't remember a time when such shareholders were not couched in such terms. There is a distinction to be made: The old-style "raiders" epitomized by Carl Icahn. The new-money hedge funds. And then there are the old-style gadflies, among them some eccentric characters. But there may be something to the notion that these gadflies--epitomized by Ralph Whitworth's Relational Investors Fund--are no longer taken for granted. He has built a network and his fund, and he looms like a huge force over his target companies.

For more on Whitworth:
- here's a New York Times profile