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CEO Disease Symptoms

Coaching Tip

" CEOs often hear what they want to hear rather than what really is on the minds of their subordinates," said Mark Anderson, president of ExecuNet, that conducted a survey of 2,463 C-level respondents in December 2010. CEOs think of guiding the ship as their purview.".

CEO 115
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Deadly Disease of Management: Emphasis on Short-term Profits

Deming Institute

In Warren Buffett’s 2010 annual letter to shareholders he mentions the advantage Berkshire Hathaway has because it doesn’t focus on short term results: At GEICO, for example, we enthusiastically spent $900 million last year on advertising to obtain policyholders who deliver us no immediate profits. In Profit Beyond Measure by H.

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Stop Budgeting, Start Improving

Harvard Business Review

Consider ThedaCare , a healthcare system in Wisconsin, which eliminated its budgeting process in 2010. According to ThedaCare's chief financial officer, Tim Olson , top management viewed it as a significant waste of time. But the tight-fisted approach winds up being wasteful, and there is a better way.

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Carlos Ghosn, Nissan, and the Need for Stronger Corporate Governance in Japan

Harvard Business Review

As one accountant based in Japan during 2010, explained , “there was a big rush of inquiries about schemes that might be used either to split out salaries or defer part of it.”

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An Activist Investor Lands in Your Boardroom — Now What?

Harvard Business Review

He had earlier served as chief financial officer of two publicly-traded companies—Discovery Communications and American Tower Corporation—and would bring additional financial experience on capital allocation. Singer, looked very appealing with a good track record of value creation.

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An Insider’s Account of the Yahoo-Alibaba Deal

Harvard Business Review

In May of 2005, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, cofounder Jerry Yang, corporate development executive Toby Coppel, and I — I was then chief financial officer of the Silicon Valley internet company — went on what would turn out to be a fateful trip to China. A 2010 Harvard Business School case by Julie M.

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Why Sit on All that Cash? Firms Uncertain on Cost of Capital

Harvard Business Review

AFP conducted the Cost of Capital Survey in October 2010 and received answers from 309 chief financial officers, treasurers, vice presidents-finance, and assistant treasurers. Their answers revealed that calculating the cost of capital today is an art, not a science.