Leading from the boardroom

These days, boards are working overtime to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley and other governance requirements meant to protect shareholders from executive wrongdoing. But as directors have become more hands-on with compliance, they've become more hands-off with long-range planning. That exposes corporations and their shareholders to another--perhaps even greater--risk, say professors Lorsch, of Harvard Business School, and Clark, of Harvard Law School. Boards are giving the long term short shrift for a number of reasons. Despite much heavier workloads, directors haven't rethought their patterns of operating - their meetings, committees, and other interactions. Compliance has changed their relationship with executives, however, turning directors into micromanagers who closely probe executives' actions instead of providing high-level guidance. Meanwhile, the pressure to meet quarterly expectations intensifies. Directors need to do a better job of balancing compliance with forward thinking. Boardroom effectiveness hinges most on the quality of directors and their interactions, the authors' research shows. Directors must apply their wisdom broadly, handling compliance work more efficiently and staying out of the weeds on strategic issues. Using their power with management to evangelize for long-term planning, they must take the lead on discussions about financial infrastructure, talent development, and strategy. Reserving sacrosanct time for such discussions, as Philips Electronics' board does at annual retreats, is an effective practice: After one recent retreat, Philips decided to exit the semiconductor business, where it was losing ground. Individual directors also must not shy away from asking tough questions and acting as catalysts on critical issues, such as grooming a successor to the CEO. In short, directors must learn to lead from the boardroom.     

徐郡饶:当家花旦

在CFO的群体里,徐郡饶有独特的魅力：虽出身巾帼,却驾驭百亿资产,有着不逊于须眉的从容和魄力;虽身处高位,二十余载的兢兢业业却积淀了内心的平和与淡定;虽受制于体制,却审时度势,锐意改革,共同缔造了一个国企改制的神话;虽执掌一隅,却无时不关注着冰山集团的全体员工和中国的制冷行业。     

Leading clever people

In an economy driven by ideas and intellectual know-how, top executives recognize the importance of employing smart, highly creative people. But if clever people have one defining characteristic, it's that they do not want to be led. So what is a leader to do? The authors conducted more than 100 interviews with leaders and their clever people at major organizations such as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Cisco Systems, Novartis, the BBC, and Roche. What they learned is that the psychological relationships effective leaders have with their clever people are very different from the ones they have with traditional followers. Those relationships can be shaped by seven characteristics that clever people share: They know their worth--and they know you have to employ them if you want their tacit skills. They are organizationally savvy and will seek the company context in which their interests are most generously funded. They ignore corporate hierarchy; although intellectual status is important to them, you can't lure them with promotions. They expect instant access to top management, and if they don't get it, they may think the organization doesn't take their work seriously. They are plugged into highly developed knowledge networks, which both increases their value and makes them more of a flight risk. They have a low boredom threshold, so you have to keep them challenged and committed. They won't thank you--even when you're leading them well. The trick is to act like a benevolent guardian: to grant them the respect and recognition they demand, protect them from organizational rules and politics, and give them room to pursue private efforts and even to fail. The payoff will be a flourishing crop of creative minds that will enrich your whole organization.     

Leading by feel

Like it or not, leaders need to manage the mood of their organizations. The most gifted leaders accomplish that by using a mysterious blend of psychological abilities known as emotional intelligence. They are self-aware and empathetic. They can read and regulate their own emotions while intuitively grasping how others feel and gauging their organization's emotional state. But where does emotional intelligence come from, and how do leaders learn to use it? In this article, 18 leaders and scholars (including business executives, leadership researchers, psychologists, an autism expert, and a symphony conductor) explore the nature and management of emotional intelligence--its sources, uses, and abuses. Their responses varied, but some common themes emerged: the importance of consciously--and conscientiously--honing one's skills, the double-edged nature of self-awareness, and the danger of letting any one emotional intelligence skill dominate. Among their observations: Psychology professor John Mayer, who co-developed the concept of emotional intelligence, warns managers not to be confused by popular definitions of the term, which suggest that if you have a certain set of personality traits then you automatically possess emotional intelligence. Neuropsychologist Elkhonon Goldberg agrees with professors Daniel Goleman and Robert Goffee that emotional intelligence can be learned--but only by people who already show an aptitude for it. Cult expert Janja Lalich points out that leaders can use their emotional intelligence skills for ill in the same way they can for good. "Sometimes the only difference is [the leader's] intent," she says. And business leaders Carol Bartz, William George, Sidney Harman, and Andrea jung (of Autodesk, Medtronic, Harman International, and Avon respectively) describe situations in which emotional intelligence traits such as self-awareness and empathy have helped them and their companies perform at a higher level.     

主导顶级合作

北汽福田汽车股份公司给国人最深刻的印象,莫过于与康明斯和奔驰这两个全球老大的顶级合作了。稍加分析,我们发现,福田汽车的这两次顶级合作,并不是因为对方全球顶级的身份而称为顶级合作,而是     

走向财政政策主导的宏观调控新格局

2008年的中国经济遭受了三十年改革来最艰巨的挑战.国内物价上涨、企业金融困境,资产价格崩溃形成三面夹击态势围剿中国宏观经济,衰退威胁一目了然.     

运通面向高端,积极发展--访美国运通国际股份有限公司副总裁姜大伟

时不我待 《银行家》:很多全球性的金融机构在数年之前就已经进入了中国市场,而运通今年才进入中国,这与其他金融机构相比是比较晚的,运通为什么选择这个时间进入中国?     

论创建学习型领导干部队伍

创建学习型领导干部队伍,是我国经济社会发展的客观要求,是我国执政党建设的现实要求.创建的前提条件在于领导干部的持续学习过程,在于领导干部的不断学习和终身学习,这前提条件的构建意义重大.江泽民学习思想,集中体现了领导干部队伍建设的学习型特征及其不断学习、终身学习的必要性和深刻内涵,对于创建学习型领导干部队伍具有重要的指导意义.     

Creating the future

Wendell Bell has had a crucial contribution to the development of the network of futures scholars consisting of diversified talents and network of diversified talents and active organizations in the greater Chinese region. Furthermore, Bell's books and articles in English and Chinese have challenged and transformed people's stereotypes of the crystal-ball futurism into an academic discipline emphasizing images of the future and alternatives developed on the basis of empirical and theoretical knowledge and imagination.     

Communicating the future

A lot of time, money, and wisdom is wasted if the strategic planner fails to communicate his message. A substantial investment in a long and detailed forecasting exercise can only pay dividends if the results of that exercise are effectively brought to the attention of the clients, the people who can act upon the forecast. Here the author argues that this final stage of a forecasting exercise is as important as all the other stages, but that it is an area which is largely ignored by planners. So, using the example of a business environment, he gives simple practical guidance as to how planners can improve their performance in this final stage, the presentation of the results to the executives. Basically, this involves a shift away from the objective of transmitting the maximum amount of information, towards the idea of maximising the amount of information assimilated by the audience.