Job tenure has a very direct impact on leadership style and effectiveness. Myths abound regarding CEO job security, but in reality, research shows that Australian CEOs typically hang on to the job for 8 years before retiring with a golden parachute. The point at which you find a leader within their tenure has a clear … Continue reading Expiry dates and ROI time horizons
When it comes to explaining business success, you usually hear the story of the leader. Western culture has a rich history of story telling - heroes venturing off into the unknown, facing adversity, returning with "unique" and extraordinary new skills. In 1949, Joseph Campbell documented this almost primeval underpinning of our culture in "The Hero … Continue reading Succession planning and the cult of the CEO
I don't think anyone doubts that something is rotten in the cozy world of the tabloid press. The unbelievable shenanigans surrounding News Corp and "The world's greatest newspaper" would get a Hollywood scriptwriter fired. Even Scorcese would struggle to pull off this fantasy of money, power, politics and corruption. Before this scandal resurfaced, Transparency International's … Continue reading Making problems disappear
Our entire economy seems to run on data these days. Business processes are now not just computerised, but frequently generate extremely detailed information that is retained for many years. Businesses (and some government departments) don't just have customer data - they have extremely detailed activity trails and profiles for customers. I think if history shows … Continue reading Privacy panic and crisis management back in the spotlight
One of the most time honoured ways for a celebrity or politician to bolster public opinion is the photo opportunity. The power of cute and cuddly is so great, even Oprah felt she needed to do it. So it was interesting to see the announcement of a new mathematical model to predict extinction risk for … Continue reading Going head to head against cute and cuddly can be risky
Budgeting and other forms of planning are such an integral part of the way we all work, that we can easily take it for granted. There are few events that occur in our business lives which someone hasn't thought "might happen". I think that people often just chalk up losses from low probability events as … Continue reading Flooding, the cost of a life, and risk management
