Directorship CEO Jeffrey M. Cunningham takes a look at Lloyd Blankfein and Proctor & Gamble.

Jeffrey M. Cunningham weighs in on dynamic duos in the c-suite and embracing the digital world in the boardroom.

REMEMBRANCE: Partisan politics aside, an encounter with Ted Kennedy created an indelible impression.

Lincoln’s letter to his General of the Potomac, George B. McLellan, is a prime example of a chief executive who knows that mere metrics and numbers do not equal success.

(Our Fear, Their Loathing)

As Corporate America enters a new era of capitalism—one that is far more viral, instantaneous, and unpredictable—building close working relationships and communications between the board and shareholders is essential.

Planes,
Gains, and
Automobiles

I don’t argue that there has not been excess, and I don’t blame those who held their nose and allowed the government to intervene, and now call out for the pillars of activist corporate governance to be implemented.

A moral foundation, accountability, and an ounce of prevention provide a blueprint for recovery.

New realities and finding opportunity in the financial crisis.

We can’t attend an event or business gathering, a soccer match or an ice hockey game, without someone
offering their bromide or sizing up a hair shirt to fit the culprit who one way or another got us into this mess. One imagines it is not quite so simple. To our readers then, I offer this list of suspects, all of whom played a role in a our current economic turbulence.

Business leaders and board directors have been thoroughly villainized, corporate governance is limping back to the drawing board, and venerable investment houses that had hundred-year-old franchises have been sold for their furniture and land. Society is unequivocally looking for answers and, failing that, perpetrators.

Keep your eye on the Norm, Zipcar, interest rates, Barney Frank, and paper clips.

Mike Armstrong, former CEO of ATT, was removed as audit committee chairman of the Citigroup board. Incompetence or scapegoat?
Anyone who knows Mike Armstrong and his stellar career knows the answer. It is a latter day rush to blame, pure and simple; the investment community and activists’ pressure on the board was undeniably the reason for [...]

A B CD E FG H IJ K LM N OP Q RS T UV WX Y Z    A B C ABB LTD Postings ABBOTT LABORATORIES Postings ACCO BRANDS CORP. Postings ACTORS STUDIO Postings ADAPTEC Postings ADVENT SOFTWARE Postings AFFILIATED COMPUTER SERVICES Postings AFLAC The ‘Say-on-Pay’ Debate Heats Up AFL-CIO Pay Advisers Under Fire, [...]

Why is it politicos put on a most winsome smile for Hollywood exports like Steven Spielberg and Babs Streisand, but suddenly turn dour when it comes to exporting pieces of true international commodities like investment banks?

The most talented business editor of our time was the late James W. Michaels, chief editor of Forbes, who some may remember from his appearances on Forbes on Fox.

Directorship urges directors and officers to take an annual think week, and if practical, to do so as a full board, complete with afternoon walks, provocative reading, speakers on global issues, and a facilitator like Jeffrey Sonnenfeld or Ram Charan to ensure thoughtful give and take (Directorship’s Events Group can help you put this together, if you are so inclined). While Gates mostly reads papers contributed by Microsoft engineers, we recommend beginning with a cornucopia of books, almost one a day for your own version of think week:

Boards need more investor directors, not independent directors.