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There’s considerable debate these days on whether the roles of chairman and CEO should be separated in publicly held companies. I’ve reviewed hundreds, if not thousands of failed and problem banks – both as chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and as a consultant since leaving the FDIC. I have also served for the past three years as nonexecutive chairman of Fifth Third Bancorp. These experiences have given me a unique perspective on the chairman/CEO issue and on corporate governance generally.

The first observation I offer is that much of the debate about the chairman/CEO issue is misdirected, trivialized and too emotional. Unfortunately, any discussion or consideration of the issue is too often taken as a personal affront to the CEO involved.

Where have all the leaders gone? That’s the question I hear everywhere I travel at home and abroad. I can’t answer the question, but it caused me to reflect on what makes a good leader.

When I think of leaders I admire, the first thing that stands out is their vision. A leader knows where he or she wants to go and communicates it well. Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were great leaders because they had very clear visions of where they wanted to take their countries. They articulated a few major priorities and devoted their administrations to achieving them. Reagan’s predecessor, Jimmy Carter, was a good and principled man but did not have a successful presidency primarily because he couldn’t – or at least didn’t – adequately explain to the nation where he wanted to lead us.

Last week, President Obama nominated Penny Pritzker, a philanthropist and successful businesswoman, to be Commerce secretary . I have known Pritzker for over a decade and believe she will be an outstanding secretary of Commerce and a great ambassador for the U.S. throughout the world. In my view she will be among the most able in the president’s cabinet – someone with considerable experience in business and job creation.

Since her nomination, some have said that her experience as chair of Superior Bank in Illinois – an S&L that failed in 2001 as the economic boom of the 1990s receded and the NASDAQ bubble burst – disqualifies her for the post. I was not involved at Superior Bank or with the Pritzker family prior to the bank’s failure but was quite involved after its failure so I believe I have a unique vantage point to comment on those events.