The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Tag Archive for ‘Angelo Mozilo’

What’s Happened to the Big Players in the Financial Crisis?

Widespread demonstrations in support of Occupy Wall Street have put the financial crisis back into the national spotlight lately. So here’s a quick refresher on what’s happened to some of the main players, whose behavior, whether merely reckless or downright deliberate, helped cause or worsen the meltdown.

Self-Deception and Challenges for Leaders

Columnist Gael O’Brien examines several recent crises and finds a common trait: self-deception by leadership. It “reflects an image that allows leaders to disengage and disconnect from their actual impact on others,” she writes. “Aside from the damage it does to those affected, it creates an understandable gap in trust, which is the very thing leaders want to re-build after a crisis.”

Countrywide: How Artificial Reality Trumped Leadership

In a post-mortem on mortgage lender Countrywide Financial and its former CEO, Angelo Mozilo, columnist Gael O’Brien explains how personal baggage and ego unchecked can drive unintended outcomes – sometimes persuading a leader to turn a deaf ear to criticism and information that’s needed to get back on course.

BOOKS: The Failure of Corporate Boards and the Price We All Pay

If you’re one of the many trying to determine where blame might lie for the financial and economic crises of the last two years, John Gillespie and David Zweig would suggest you look in the corporate boardroom. Their new book – “Money for Nothing: How the Failure of Corporate Boards Is Ruining American Business and Costing Us Trillions” – is rich with unfortunate detail.