Directors & Boards articles from June 1995

Directors & Boards archives from June 1995

Principles to govern by. (corporate governance)
June 22, 1995... Corporate governance is currently a hot issue. Consider what has been written this year concerning the Kmart, Borden, W.R. Grace, and Morrison Knudsen boards. Undoubtedly, more such examples will surface and occasion additional discussion of...

Commonsense reform in board governance.
June 22, 1995... The call for reform has come to the corporate boardroom just as it has become a major initiative for government, education, trade and a host of other economic, social and political agendas. Reform of board governance is an attention-grabbing...

Best practices, or just best people?
June 22, 1995... Over the past decade, scandals have occurred in most of the major industrialized countries as a result of which individuals, financial institutions, and major companies have lost large amounts of money. All of these countries have highly...

Reminiscences on succession planning.
June 22, 1995... Succession planning is a most important role for a board of directors -- in many cases, the most important role. With a cumulative total of over 80 years of service as an outside director for various Fortune 500 companies, I have seen many...

Being skillful at succession.
June 22, 1995... Recent CEO successions where there is no immediate successor -- for example, following Joseph Antonini's departure at Kmart -- highlight the poor succession planning that exists all too frequently in the boardrooms of corporate America....

Creative alternatives to classic succession.
June 22, 1995... Everyone seems to agree that a company's strategic vision is a key element in selecting successors at the executive level. It is insufficient to consider leadership skills or a success record without setting them in the context of where the...

CEO evaluation: a process that worked.
June 22, 1995... Ronald A. Matricaria was named the president and chief executive officer of St. Jude Medical Inc. in 1993. St. Jude Medical had achieved record financial performance and possessed an exceptionally strong balance sheet, but shareholders were...

The key gauges of performance.
June 22, 1995... In a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Corporate Directors, corporate performance emerged overwhelmingly as the top business priority in the minds of CEOs. More than 50% of the respondents in the corporate governance...

The marginal chief executive.
June 22, 1995... Try as it will, even the most highly motivated board of directors sometimes chooses a chief executive who turns out to be less than qualified. Mistakes happen, for example, when the board doesn't really understand the skills required for...

Designing the CEO exit package.
June 22, 1995... Few milestones a company and its board face are more critical than the board's decision to part ways with an incumbent CEO for reasons other than normal retirement or an outside takeover. Yet, despite the complexity and implications of a CEO's...

Should you recruit a young director? (corporate boards)
June 22, 1995... Wanted: Outside director for the board of a Fortune 500 corporation. Typical Profile: * Chief executive officer of a Fortune 500 public company from a relevant industry. * An individual living in a geographically proximate...

On becoming a director: a talk with Richard Parsons.(Interview)
June 22, 1995... Richard D. Parsons was 37 years old when he joined his first public corporation board. That was 10 years ago, when he was managing partner of the New York law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler. He subsequently became chairman and...

Maintaining your currency.(Endnote)(Column)
June 22, 1995... With increasing public concern about corporate behavior, critics are asking, "Are directors boardworthy?" A second question is seldom addressed when directors are retired from gainful employment, "How do they maintain their currency?" ...