The 2006 Home Depot (NYSE: HD) was an unmitigated disaster. The Board of Directors decided it had better things to do than show up at the company's annual meeting, and CEO Robert Nardelli was too busy to answer questions from his employers: Home Depot's shareholders. Numerous investors walked out of the meeting in frustration, and it will probably be a Harvard Business School case study some day about how not to build goodwill at an annual meeting.

Well with Nardelli gone, and Home Depot $210 million poorer for his departure, the new folksy, straight-shooting CEO Frank Blake began the 2007 annual meeting with an apology: "There is no better way to deal with a mistake than to acknowledge it, fix it and move forward. We apologize for last year's meeting. It was a mistake and we won't do it again."

Blake then spent two hours answering questions from frustrated investors and even customers, and candidly discussed the company's problems.

While transparency and goodwill are wonderful, it remains to be seen whether Blake will be able to provide the turnaround the company needs to revive its share price. Interestingly, there was little complaining about Nardelli on the operations front. The main complaint was his arrogance and pay package, but most conceded he was pretty strong at running the company. Now Blake's here, and has demonstrated humility and picked up a very reasonable compensation deal. But will he be able to run the company effectively? And if not, Home Depot shareholders will have to ask themselves: Were they better with Nardelli, in spite of his attitude?