Tag: board oversight

Corporate Governance

Could a narcissistic CEO be a benefit in disguise?

Who could resist an article with this title—Are Narcissistic CEOs All That Bad?—from the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University? Our lived experience with narcissists tends to suggest that they can have a corrosive effect, so we presume that narcissistic CEOs would have a negative effect on their companies as well.  Maybe not so much, according to the authors.  While it’s often believed that “CEO narcissism is highly prevalent, and considerable research suggests that narcissism is associated with worse outcomes,” the authors suggest that that research relies on “indirect evidence thought to be indicative of narcissism.” Instead, for this paper, the authors base their views on more direct assessments of personality and come up with some “unexpected associations.”

/ October 19, 2021
Corporate Governance

Leadership survey: How prepared are leaders to face key business issues? Do executives think boards give good advice?

While it’s certainly not yet in the rear-view mirror, as we start to see COVID-19 begin to fade as an all-consuming crisis for business—thank you science and scientists!—what are the next issues that corporate leaders must face and how ready are they to face them? Consultant Russell Reynolds Associates has just released its 2021 Global Leadership Monitor?, designed to track top business issues and monitor leadership preparedness.  Some of the more interesting findings: In terms of “stakeholder capitalism,” while customers are top of the heap, employees come in second as key stakeholders—ahead of stockholders.   Most fascinating perhaps is this revelation: 40% of CEOs and other C-Suite executives “don’t believe the executive team receives good advice and input from the board.”

/ May 19, 2021
Corporate GovernanceCorporate lawExecutive Compensation

Are we misunderstanding the elements that lead to good governance?

What does good governance really mean?  What does it mean to follow best practices?  Are there really best practices that make sense for all companies? Do we tend to latch onto easily identified and measured structural features that may not really be effective for good governance and ignore qualities that may be more effective but are not as easily identified or measured? Do we even have a common understanding of the meaning of concepts central to governance?  These are some of the questions addressed in an interesting paper, “Loosey-Goosey Governance Four Misunderstood Terms in Corporate Governance,” from the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford.

/ October 21, 2019