Update: August 14, 2012 University President Teresa Sullivan is interviewed by The Washington Post on lessons learned from her ouster and reinstatement. Update: On June 29, 2012 Gov. Bob McDonnell made an announcement regarding his appointments to the Board of Visitors, including the reappointment of Helen Dragas. The June 2012 turmoil at the University of […]
read more »Interviewing 1709 CEOs from 64 countries and 18 industries, (from September 2011 to January 2012) IBM identified that the top organizational attribute to draw out the best from their workforces was ethics and values (65%), followed by collaborative environment (63%), and purpose and mission (58%); these findings are part of IBM’s 2012 study Leading Through […]
read more »Update: July 16, 2012 Marissa Mayer, a Google vice president, was selected CEO of Yahoo over interim CEO Ross Levensohn, who took over in May 2012 after Scott Thompson was fired. Yahoo has been an ongoing stage for drama: CEO firings, fluctuating stock prices, selling rumors, restructuring/lay offs and cost cutting, activist shareholder proxy fights, and […]
read more »Update: A May 18, 2012 New York Times article provides background on Yahoo board members’ deliberations and Thompson’s ongoing failure to take responsibility for the resume lie. Update: May 13, 2012: Yahoo announced today effective immediately CEO Scott Thompson is replaced by interim CEO Ross Levinsohn. Yahoo also said it had reached an agreement with […]
read more »Several years ago I heard the expression “self-cleaning oven.” It was applied to situations where someone was causing harm or making a mistake, and the situation was likely to take care of itself, the way a self-cleaning oven intensely burns off the spills inside. While there are limits to that metaphor — it has some […]
read more »Update: August 9, 2016, Chancellor Katehi resigns today after the release of the investigation report. The report findings included issues with her judgment, candor with university leaders and violations of university policies. Update: April 28, 2016, Chancellor Katehi suspended for 90 days pending an investigation into whether she used public money to fund a social media […]
read more »Goldman Sachs finds itself in the very uncomfortable place of having exposed its investment in Backpage.com, one of a myriad of its investments. Backspage is a website accepting prostitution ads that included using under-age teenagers as forced sex slaves. Goldman’s latest negative headlines raise larger issues that apply to any company investing in other businesses. […]
read more »The love-hate relationship with Wall Street is complicated. Great returns on investments are one side; examples of fraud, greed or throwing shareholders or clients “under the bus” on the other. The global meltdown’s post traumatic stress and after shocks continue; ongoing investigations try to determine blame. A firm’s culture and leadership are critical success factors […]
read more »The “Greed is good. Greed is right” mantra of film character Gordon Gekko in 1987’s Wall Street, has been upended by the actor who played him. The FBI is using Michael Douglas in a Public Service Announcement, launched in the last few days, to encourage viewers to report securities fraud and insider trading to the […]
read more »How many crises would be averted – root causes eliminated or problems contained – if companies operated with a lens that included their impact on society as well as shareholder value? Lessons learned from the crises of BP, Toyota, Massey Energy, Goldman Sachs, and the 2008 global economic meltdown — among many others — have demonstrated […]
read more »Gael O’Brien was the Keynote Speaker at the Second Annual Isenberg Ethics Competition at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst….Gael was both informative and inspiring. She challenged her audience to engage in self-reflection, while also providing the participants with many practical strategies for approaching business decision-making….