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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. It turns out, CEOs aren't much better at naming what motivates their "C-level" direct reports, either. And about 9.6%

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

Harvard Business Review

The heart of the legal controversy is whether Nissan violated Japan’s securities laws by not including Ghosn’s deferred compensation in its annual reports over the last eight years. As a result, when making close calls on the company’s financial reports, that auditor may be too deferential to Nissan management.

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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. Only legal, finance, and human resources still reported back to headquarters.

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

Harvard Business Review

This is the key finding of the Current Trends in Estimating and Applying the Cost of Capital research released this week by the Association for Financial Professionals, a trade group of 16,000 corporate treasury and finance practitioners. Download this pdf for an executive summary, or login here for the full report.)