Markets today are even more focused on the short term than before. To get an organisation to think more for the long term, the current incentive structure for businesses, which is based on short-term equity gains and market-based lending, needs to be re-evaluated to accommodate longer-term opportunities and responsibilities.
A recent article by Dominic Barton in the Harvard Business Review , titled “Capitalism for the Long Term” , raises a relevant and fundamental question: do we have a leadership challenge or do we have a fundamental shift of philosophy concerning the nation-state in terms of how markets are being guided today?
At this point in time the jury is out as to which of the two options really is going to gain favour. On the one hand, taking a long-term view of capital, and having a powerful top team and a supportive board that [...]

One of the most successful factors for any global leader today is to be two things at once: sensitive to your team and your community, but tough on issues, and why? – because this is what is required for the high performing executive. However, the more that anyone is exposed to having to work at two extreme ends, two extreme emotional ends day by day, the more fatigued they become. Their capacity to withstand pressure diminishes.
The resilience issue has arisen because we are asking people to constantly do two completely opposite things at exactly the same time, but without properly building their capacity to handle these contrasts. Resilience concerns are not of those who are, let us say, ‘unabled’. Rather, resilience concerns are of those who are actually very able and excellent; it is a concern of those who are great, not those who are not [...]

A very interesting article in Harvard Business Review by Ian Bremmer and David Gordon, The Conversation , draws to the surface one of the most critical issues we are facing today, and that is whether the major powers of the world can collaborate or not. The article indicates that there are a number of worrying trends: Iran, North Korea, Pakistan and Mexico. My view is that what is happening is the world is splitting into two and we are beginning to see the Anglo-American allies concentrating in one end and the Chinese and their allies concentrating in the other. Certainly Brazil is much more aligned with China than Anglo-American interests. It does also seem as if the attack on South Korea by North Korea was simply a warning to Anglo-American interests that if Iran is bombed then there will be serious problems, and that North Korea will [...]

The case for professional boards, as set out in an article in Harvard Business Review by Robert Posen, is no surprise. The lack of attention paid by boards to the current economic crisis has been problematic. There have been two factors, both in the UK and US that contributed to this.
•    The lack of knowledge of board directors about the organisations that they serve and the lack of time to get familiar with it.
•    The dynamics of the board: courage, resilience and insight are required by board members to challenge the status quo and add real value
The proposal for professional boards is therefore on the horizon. It would undoubtedly provide a far better level of professional input in assessing risk, nominating directors etc. However, this will not improve the boards’ dynamics. This is a leadership issue and that is where the role of the Chairman [...]

Banker remuneration has been in the news a great deal lately–Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group has been trying to keep his £703,000 pension despite leading the bank to its decline and subsequent need to be bailed out by the UK government. Merrill Lynch distributed bonuses early last year, and the company is now being investigated to determine whether the early payments encouraged Merrill traders to mark down their portfolios so they could report gains in January. And government bailout money, meant to keep banks solvent, has been used to pay out bonuses–Dresdner Kleinwort in Germany is one example . [...]

According to the Harvard Business Review, women quit tech careers because of “antigens,” parts of the culture that actively offend women.
From an interview with the author in Computer World :
“They talk about demeaning and condescending attitudes, lots of off-color jokes, sexual innuendo, arrogance; colleagues, particularly in the tech culture, who genuinely think women don’t have what it takes—who see them as genetically inferior. It’s hard to take as a steady stream. It’s predatory and demeaning. It’s distressing to find this kind of data in 2008.”
Clearly the technology companies highlighted in this sector have not established codes of conduct highlighting which behaviours and attitudes will not be tolerated at work. Studies in the past at Cranfield have shown few differences between males and females who hold senior roles. These women shouldn’t feel the need to drop out of their jobs [...]