Performance Evaluation
Volatile CEOs: Groundhog Day?
How is it so many nightmare CEOs are recycled? Failure to develop internal management pipeline, inadequately developed board, and lack of coaching are a few of the most typical reasons.
It's Bonus Time Again
Are year-end bonuses a good way to reward outstanding performance? Do they motivate employees to achieve or exceed corporate goals? Or are they a source of friction among team members? Mike Myatt offers a th...
Treating the Dysfunctional CEO
Scott Weiss compares his dad's eccentricities while living alone to the CEO who lacks accurate, candid performance feedback. Boards should hire a trusted third party to collect the data and present it confidentially ...
When Slow Beats Fast
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Nobel winner Daniel Kahneman is creating lots of buzz. Its premise, that some questions reward quick responses while other decisions ...
The No Whining Rule
Is the general tone among your C-staff constructive, or do you too often hear complaints about the source of problems, rather than approaches for solving them? Perhaps a 'No Whining' sign is the answer, but this ...
Can YOU Ask This Simple Question Consistently?
Fred Wilson calls attention to a simple tool one portfolio company uses to solicit input from board members--favorable and constructive. Would this technique work as a follow-up to each of YOUR board...
Elusive but Essential Feedback for CEOs
This McKinsey Quarterly article confirms the difficulty senior executives have securing useful performance feedback. The author offers four concrete methods that leaders can use to secure important input from their...
Overpaid CEOs Get Biggest Raises
Highly paid execs stay that way (and the reverse is true, too), according to new research. The biggest raises go to those making the largest salaries, and smaller boosts are given to lower-paid CEOs, the study ...
CEOs, Ask Yourself...
When considering a major decision, CEOs should ask whether the action will create LONG-TERM shareholder value. According to a governance expert, this not only fulfills the legal and practical obligations but also is...
'Higher Ambition' Leadership
A new book, Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create Economic and Social Value, analyzes how some CEOs lead to grow revenue and profit while also creating value for non-owner stakeholders.
4 Steps Before Firing an Executive
When a senior executive has to go, following these 4 steps will make the separation process and what comes next smoother for all concerned. Know why it didn't work, inform the board, prepare for the conversation, ...
Key to CEO Tenure: Tenure
A new study shows boards are more forgiving and monitor less closely CEOs who have been in the job for five years or more, compared with those whose tenure is shorter. Shocking, but true--and a cautionary tale for...
VC Rockers: Keep Day Job
Four Foundry Group VC partners have released a music video poking fun at their industry. These guys may be successful investors, but the tongue-in-cheek recording suggests they oughtn't give up their day jobs any ...
Predictor of CEO Success
New research finds corporate financial performance highly correlated with the CEO's facial width-to-height ratio. Among men, the findings were consistent--and experts believe the higher ratio is linked to feelings ...
First Requirement for Boss Greatness
Just ask the cowardly lion what's essential: COURAGE! Not just to lay off an employee or cutting popular benefits...a successful CEO must seek feedback from those they manage, learn how they are perceived, and ...
3 Critical CEO Traits
200 candidates were assessed for the CEO role at major U.S. corporations. The top performers were then evaluated to determine which common qualities contributed to their excellent...
CEOs Should be More Like Quarterbacks
The author of this post compares the behavior of losing quarterbacks to that of CEOs who disappoint on earnings. Is the thesis, that investors' expectations should be ignored as if they were sports bettors, ...
Know Any Hosni Mubareks?
This post analogizes Egypt's uprising, its underlying causes, and it's leader's responses to struggling companies, the issues they face, and their leaders' reactions to increasingly restive employees. He argues that...
Great Man Theory
Steven Rattner, Obama's auto czar, wrote in the Financial Times about the impact on companies when their esteemed leaders step aside. What do YOU uniquely bring to your firm's fortunes? (May require free...
Are You an Entrenched CEO?
2% of Fortune 500 CEOs are fired annually. Is this a lot or too few? New Wharton research quantifies the considerations facing boards that contemplate whether to retain or replace a flawed leader, including s...
