Chief Executive (U.S.) articles from January 2007

Chief Executive (U.S.) archives from January 2007

Meet the new boss.(EDITOR'S NOTE)
January 1, 2007... CEO turnover among the S & P 500 in 2006 reached 14 percent. It was even higher--20 percent--for companies in the 401 to 500 rank. Retirement was the most common reason, at 43 percent, for appointing a new CEO. Last year, CEOs who stepped down...

Bleeding orange.(FEEDBACK)
January 1, 2007... In an online commentary, "Time Out Between Nardelli Meltdowns," CE ventured that in the rush to score Home Depot and its board for its generous severance of deposed chief Bob Nardelli, the fact that these arrangements were contractually set...

Wisdom from Weill.(MANAGEMENT)(Interview)
January 1, 2007... In The Real Deal: My Life in Business and Philanthropy, Sandy Weill, former chairman and CEO of Citigroup, offers a candid recounting of his career. The resulting account spans the birth of Citigroup, the triumphs and tribulations of building...

Raspberry.(CEO WATCH)
January 1, 2007... CBS Late Show host David Letterman used his nightly 'Top 10" list routines to tweak TACO BELL'S episode with e-coli outbreak: Among the "Questions to ask yourself before eating at Taco Bell" were "Why is the counter kid wearing a hazmat suit?"...

Thorns & roses.(CEO WATCH)
January 1, 2007... ROSE... A bouquet to France's SEGOLENE ROYAL, who admitted that she was, er, "well off" in response to charges that the Socialist presidential candidate was dodging France's wealth tax. Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue. ...

California ranks worst ... again.(survey of CEO's on best state for doing business)
January 1, 2007... ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER came to Sacramento three years ago, proclaiming a mandate to change the political culture of California, and recently he reprised that with a vow to move past party politics and partisan divide. Business leaders in his...

Succeeding at a shake-up: how to lead through disorienting change.
January 1, 2007... Most discussion about leadership focuses on the personal traits or skills needed to get people to follow someone in authority through good times and bad. But often we spend too much time thinking about the inspiration side and not enough on the...

Deep-sixing Six Sigma: stock prices sink after implementation.(THOUGHT LEADER)
January 1, 2007... When Jack Welch, then-CEO of General Electric, touted Six Sigma in his book Straight From The Gut in 2001, the so-called improvement strategy was quickly embraced by Corporate America. The trend began with manufacturing, but spread to service...

Learn from the stars: these eight central ideas of modern cosmology can be applied to today's companies.(Viewpoint essay)
January 1, 2007... "Grand Thinking" makes great companies. I criticize CEOs when they don't see its importance, and I am frustrated when they do see its importance but don't make time for its development. CEOs tell me that they are beset with more pressing...

What does it take to stay at the top? The fast-changing business climate demands a whole new CEO skill set.(LEADERSHIP)
January 1, 2007... Through the years, the ideal qualifications for a CEO have undergone evolutionary changes. Never has the menu of required skill sets changed as much as it has in the past five to 10 years. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In fact, in a recent...

Leveraging the eco-advantage: two eco-aware CEOs explain their business models.(Interview)
January 1, 2007... In his book Green to Gold, co-author Andrew Winston argues that "behind the Green Wave lie two interlocking sources of pressure: First, the limits of the natural world could constrain business operations, re-align markets and perhaps even...

What's ahead for CEOs: the past decade brought big changes to boardrooms and business practices; here's what to expect over the next 10 years.(TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS)
January 1, 2007... The year is 2017, and the past decade has been a bruiser for Corporate America on the governance and regulatory fronts. Shareholders now have unprecedented access to proxies, and regularly nominate their own candidates for director seats,...

The global imperative: new thinking to drive new growth.
January 1, 2007... Globalization has changed how CEOs must think about doing business. Often the biggest barriers to growth are outmoded notions to which one still clings. Globalization demands that leaders learn from the world, rather than plastering the globe...

Globalization gone awry? As markets evolve, onerous regulations and a punitive tort system may be driving companies out of the U.S.(CEO2CEO SUMMIT/GLOBALIZATION)
January 1, 2007... For decades, globalization has been heralded as an opportunity for tremendous growth. And, in fact, the integration of economies around the world has lived up to its promise--affording companies, consumers and markets alike greater access to...

Building brands: how do you build--and maintain--a global image?(CEO2CEO SUMMIT/BRANDS)(Company overview)
January 1, 2007... Looking back 50 years, building a brand seems a relatively straightforward affair--develop a great product and bring it to market with a catchy name and a creative ad campaign. Of course, it was never quite that simple, but there's no denying...

Mastering global growth.(Interview)
January 1, 2007... The CEO Summit culminated in a summary discussion with participants Ed Madden, vice chairman of Fidelity Management Trust Company, and Martin Sullivan, CEO of AIG, who shared their views on coping with global competition, the coming war for...

What's so good about good corporate governance? Does "going the extra mile" drive value? CEOs aren't so sure.(CEO2CEO SUMMIT/GOVERNANCE)
January 1, 2007... Over the years, various organizations have claimed companies with a better governance structure have a better share price rating than their competitors. But Dennis Shaughnessy, chairman of FTI Consulting, doesn't buy it. "Personally, I haven't...

Riding the global value chain: the logistics revolution is dramatically increasing the market reach of businesses. But what is it doing to U.S. competitiveness?
January 1, 2007... Today, practically anything can be made almost anywhere and sold somewhere else. That's the bottom line of global transparency and access. It's grown by leaps and bounds and is spurring economic growth and enhanced human welfare globally,...

Seeking trust? Mind the three R's of good governance.(CORPORATE GOVERNANCE)
January 1, 2007... Anew reality confronts CEOs and boards today. It includes greater shareholder activism, more independent boards, crossborder regulatory cooperation, greater media and rating agency scrutiny, and customers who increasingly respond to social and...

Claret cure: drink two glasses of red wine and call me in the morning.(EXECUTIVE LIFE)
January 1, 2007... In the 1950's jingle, Chiquita Banana told us that "Bananas taste the best and are the best for you." Who knew the same was true of red wine? As I travel around talking to corporate audiences about the wonderful world of wine, I am often...

Tempus fugit: CEO turnover inspires a new business concept.(FLIP SIDE)
January 1, 2007... America has often been described as a jobs factory masquerading as a society. Not only does this country constantly create millions of new jobs for its citizens, fueling the most powerful economy the world has ever known, but it ceaselessly...

Eggonomics for states.(survey of CEO's on best state for doing business)
January 1, 2007... JEAN-BAPTISTE COLBERT, France's finance minister under Louis XIV, once remarked that the art of taxation lay in knowing how to pluck the goose with a minimum of squealing. Perhaps Arnold Schwarzenegger, Eliot Spitzer and Deval Patrick, the...