The Magazine of Corporate Responsibility

Tag Archive for ‘Leadership’

Women and Leadership: Roadmaps for the Journey

Acquiring the skills needed for leadership isn’t easy for members of either sex. But for women who pursue careers in companies, there is the daunting reality that unless you start your own business, a leadership role can be hard to come by. Columnist Gael O’Brien speaks with McKinsey consultant and author Joanna Barsh about her research into “centered leadership” and how it might help accelerate the leadership journey for women.

Ethics of Being Wrong: Ghosn, Greenspan, and Dodger Owners

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn recently accused three of the company’s senior executives of selling corporate secrets to the Chinese. But he was wrong – they hadn’t done it. Columnist Gael O’Brien says being wrong is part of being human, and leaders should be especially mindful of that . “The more we stay open to the possibility we could be wrong,” she says, “the more likely we are to get beyond our own ‘rightness’ and experience a larger reality.”

Failure, Leadership and Lessons Learned

What’s the difference between someone who becomes a good leader and one who doesn’t? Often it’s the ability to learn from failure. Columnist Gael O’Brien discusses leading thinking on how to analyze what went wrong and how best to reinvent oneself after hitting bottom. For those who get a second act, one expert says, timing can be critical: “You often get your second chance when no one else wants it.”

Leadership, Common Purpose and Shared Values

Columnist Gael O’Brien speaks with Joel Kurtzman about corporate culture, CEO leadership and the concept of a common-purpose organization. “It is difficult for a company to keep a sense of common purpose for longer than a decade,” he says. “It has to be nurtured or it goes away.” One company that has succeeded: American Express.

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.”

BOOKS: In Search of Sustainable Excellence

“Sustainable excellence” is a term used by Aron Cramer and Zachary Karabell to describe companies that operate profitably, are committed to superior business practices, and “integrate consideration of society and the environment into their DNA.” Gael O’Brien reviews their new book.

The Making of a Modern CEO: The New Normal

Ann Charles thinks the next generation of business leaders will require new talents and a different set of skills to successfully grow business over the next decade. A modern CEO, she writes, will focus on creating a business culture that’s expansive, mapping a social purpose to the creation of goods and services.

Leadership: Vigilantism 2.0

The worldwide Web is a great repository for track records, and has a long memory. That’s why social activists are increasingly using it to punish companies that have attracted their wrath. In this brave new world, Ann Charles writes, CEOs need to prepare for the era of total transparency.

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.

Opinion: Inglorious CEOs

As each headline about corporate malfeasance is juxtaposed against record profits and bonuses, Americans become more jaded about the ethics of today’s business leadership. Many CEOs seem to lack the emotional awareness to deal with their own image problem.