Bob Iger has a lot on his to do list in his second round as Disney’s CEO. The 71 year-old newly unretired executive has to make the company’s costly streaming business profitable, jump start its floundering stock price and restore the magic in Disney’s culture after Bob Chapek’s tumultuous tenure. And he’s got to do it in just two years...
New mental health challenges are impacting our organizations now daily - And it is not easing up any time soon. Mental health since COVID has been deteriorating by 25% from Pre-COVID statistics. I was on a call yesterday with a former CEO of a major securities firm, and he simply said, everyone I know is depressed or have children feeling sad...
Organizations of every size and in every industry are vulnerable to cybersecurity risks — a dynamic landscape of threats and vulnerabilities and a corresponding overload of possible mitigating controls. MIT Senior Lecturer Keri Pearlson, who is also the executive director of the research consortium Cybersecurity at MIT Sloan (CAMS) and an instructor for the new MIT Sloan Executive Education course Cybersecurity Governance for the Board of Directors, knows how business can get ahead of this risk...
Corporate share buybacks are under attack, mainly from the political left (e.g., Senators Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Elizabeth Warren and President Joe Biden), but also to some degree from the right (e.g., Senator Marco Rubio). Critics decry the large sums distributed to shareholders via buybacks because that cash could have been used to fund greater investment and, especially, investment that would make workers better off...
In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proposed rules that would require public companies to make standardized disclosures on cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incident reporting...
It’s fair to say that during times of economic turmoil, so many of us, whether individuals or businesses, go into survival mode by focusing only on the immediate challenges at hand. Yet, leaders must not lose sight of longer-term business goals and commitments. Don't let a state of crisis become a distraction from ongoing efforts to do business in a more ethical and sustainable way...
Making business decisions that are both ethically and strategically sound has always been incredibly tricky. Leaders are called upon to act in a manner that is consistent with their personal values, builds solidarity and trust among diverse stakeholders, enhances their company’s reputation, and prevents scandals, while also being mindful of the bottom line...
Social justice joins discounted cash flows on the syllabus as essential knowledge for aspiring corporate leaders...
As companies address two fundamental and related shifts—the intensified focus on environmental,
social & governance (ESG) issues driven by investors, employees, consumers, business partners, ESG rating agencies, and regulators, [1] and the shift to a multistakeholder form of capitalism [2] —corporate boards are not only incorporating nonfinancial matters into discussions of company strategy and business plans, but also increasingly considering ESG performance measures in incentive plans...
“She is respected and well regarded by the board, so she has pull. She has the weight and the influence and the history with the board...
If there is a company that awakens people’s imaginations in every corner of the globe then that company is Disney. No other company on the planet has contributed more to nurturing the fantasy and imagination of both young and old...
The Morgan Stanley executive and Walmart director overcame numerous hurdles during her career. Advisers offered guidance on good relationships and seeing the big picture...
In June, the comment period closed on the SEC’s proposed rulemaking on “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Financial Disclosures” (the Proposal). The SEC received more than 5,000 comments on the Proposal...
With increased attention on systemic racism in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd (on May 25, 2020) and the widespread Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests, growing number of stakeholders recognize racial diversity on corporate boards (or rather lack thereof). After the BLM protests, institutional investors started to demand disclosure of boardroom racial composition and focused on inclusion and equal opportunities policies...
Corporate governance experts say the electric-car maker’s directors may need to rein in the chief executive, with whom many have personal ties...
Investors are still digesting the news that Bob Iger will reprise his role as the chief executive of Disney. The guy retired for less than a year and he's already back, and under his watch, onlookers expect some of the brand's old magic to return...
There is a lot of handwringing and navel-gazing going on in startup land with the denouement of two of the largest scandals the industry has ever seen: Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes (sentenced to 11 years in prison for fraud) and FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried (vaporized $32 billion of value through mismanagement and fraudulent accounting)...
A case presently before the Delaware Court of Chancery challenging a corporation’s advance notice bylaw amendments, initiated by activist investor Politan Capital Management LP in October 2022, brings to mind the storied Icarus. In the legend, a master craftsman creates wings of feathers and wax for himself and his son to escape danger. He cautions his son Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, lest the wings melt. Icarus, carried away with this device figuratively and literally, flies too high and tumbles into the sea...
Of the many dimensions of the FTX fiasco, the most shocking is the comprehensive failure of corporate governance, now becoming clear as the bankruptcy process unfolds. Sloppy and likely illegal management practices at FTX have raised doubts that extend beyond the company to call into question the whole crypto premise. They also cast doubt on the integrity of the ESG rating business, and on several other components of the larger financial system...
On the one hand, board members are keenly aware of the environmental and social requirements their companies must address— given emerging legislation and global reporting standards, sustainability-conscious investors and customers, and the increasingly clear link between long-term company performance and sustainability. Boards know that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals can no longer be an afterthought, way down the agenda after financial governance and performance...
The scale of concern among Tesla Inc. (TSLA -5.22%decrease) board members about how to keep Elon Musk‘s attention trained on the electric-vehicle maker loomed large during a weeklong trial over the chief executive’s pay package. A desire to motivate Mr. Musk to focus on Tesla triggered a months long pay negotiation that culminated in the shareholders’ approval of a 2018 CEO equity grant valued at roughly $48 billion at recent stock prices...
The largest mainstream institutional investors and the rating agencies that serve them now say they consider high quality Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) practices by corporations to be necessary for sustainable, long-term wealth creation—a position that has generated academic and political controversy. But for all the debate surrounding the use of ESG for investing, virtually no attention has been paid to a core tension in the ESG policies of major investors and rating agencies — the discordance of the “G” from the “E” and “S.”...
Silicon Valley’s culture of founder-dominated companies stands in direct conflict with the Wall Street tradition of activism by outside shareholders. As some of the most successful tech companies face sagging growth and slumping share prices, can the two sides find a way to get along...
There are many demands on compliance officers’ time and many issues with which compliance officers must grapple. However, recent regulatory fines in the United Kingdom have thrown new light on the importance of good governance, which can be the cornerstone of a well-run financial services firm...