Must Reads
There is so much to read, so much to know, so many sources to follow. And the volume of news and information just keeps growing exponentially. How to keep up? Even more, how to rediscover the serendipity of learning something new and interesting for its own sake?
Here, for your enjoyment and interest, are the articles Temin and Company considers “must reads.” They are primarily on the topics of reputation and crisis management, the media, leadership and strategy, perception and psychology, self-presentation, science, girls and women, organizational behavior and other articles of interest.
They are listed below with the most recent articles first, and to the side, by category.
We hope you enjoy them and would appreciate your comments. And whenever you have any favorite articles for us to add, please let us know so that we might include them for other readers to enjoy.
There is so much to read, so much to know, so many sources to follow. And the volume of news and information just keeps growing exponentially. How to keep up? Even more, how to rediscover the serendipity of learning something new and interesting for its own sake?
Here, for your enjoyment and interest, are the articles Temin and Company considers “must reads.” They are primarily on the topics of reputation and crisis management, the media, leadership and strategy, perception and psychology, self-presentation, science, girls and women, organizational behavior and other articles of interest.
They are listed below with the most recent articles first, and to the side, by category.
We hope you enjoy them and would appreciate your comments. And whenever you have any favorite articles for us to add, please let us know so that we might include them for other readers to enjoy.
More CEOs may ditch Trump
Axios, August 15, 2017
Merck & Co.’s Kenneth Frazier, then Under Armour Inc.’s Kevin Plank and Intel Corp.’s Brian Krzanich stepped down from a White House business group (Manufacturing Jobs Initiative), per Bloomberg’s Jeff Green. While none mentioned the president, Frazier, one of the country’s most-prominent black chief executive officers, … said he was acting on a “matter of personal conscience.”
As for Intel’s Krzanich, his Twitter account was peppered [yesterday] by pleas for him to quit the White House group.
Who’s next? Davia Temin, head of the New York-based crisis-management firm Temin & Co: “This conversation is viral in boardrooms right now.” […read more]
‘Digital Transformation’ Is a Misnomer
Gerald C. Kane, MIT Sloan Management Review, August 7, 2017
Digital transformation is not about technology. A key misconception about digital transformation is that it is something that companies choose to do with technology or is primarily about their implementation and use of technology. It isn’t. Instead, digital transformation is about how technology changes the conditions under which business is done, in ways that change the expectations of customers, partners, and employees. […read more]
Women in the Fortune 500: 64 CEOs in half a century
Julia Carpenter, CNN Money, August 7, 2017
Just this June, Fortune Magazine announced a new milestone in its list of Fortune 500 female CEOs. The number of women CEOs listed had reached an all–time high: 32 in a single year. The percentage was still small — just 6.4% — but it had finally broken the 5% mark. With the departures of Avon’s Sheri McCoy and Mondelez, Inc.’s Irene Rosenfeld, two female CEOs leading major companies, the number of women leading in the business world drops yet again. […read more]
The Neuroscience of Strategic Leadership
Jeffrey Schwartz, Josie Thomson, and Art Kleiner, Strategy+Business, Summer 2017
Neuroscientists and psychologists are beginning to learn what happens at moments of choice inside the human mind and the brain. If you understand these dynamics and how they affect you and those around you, you can set a course toward more effective patterns of thinking and action. You can replicate those beneficial patterns, at a larger scale, in your organization. Over time, this practice can help you take on a quality of strategic leadership: inspiring others, helping organizations transcend their limits, and navigating enterprises toward lofty, beneficial goals. […read more]
How AI Is Already Changing Business
Sarah Green Carmichael, Harvard Business Review’s HBR IdeaCast, July 20, 2017
Erik Brynjolfsson, MIT Sloan School professor, explains how rapid advances in machine learning are presenting new opportunities for businesses. He breaks down how the technology works and what it can and can’t do (yet). He also discusses the potential impact of AI on the economy, how workforces will interact with it in the future, and suggests managers start experimenting now. […read more]
Forgot Where You Parked? Good
Ulrich Boser, The New York Times, June 30, 2017
Forgetting is supposed to be the antithesis of learning, and whether we’re a kid or an adult, most of us are plainly embarrassed if we can’t recall a name or fact. But it turns out that forgetting can help us gain expertise, and when we relearn something we couldn’t recall, we often develop a richer form of understanding. […read more]
CEO Health: Shareholders Want to Know More
Lindsay Frost, Agenda, June 26, 2017
Newly minted CSX CEO Hunter Harrison is lauded as transforming the railroad game for Canadian Pacific and several other railroad networks. Although he took his post at CSX in March, investors were tasked with ratifying the $84 million pay package it would take to keep him. While considering the vote, shareholders voiced concerns about his health after a report was leaked noting that he has to work from home sometimes and uses an oxygen tank to help him breathe.
Harrison’s situation has put the question of materiality, and when and if to disclose CEO health issues, back in the spotlight. Considered the board’s responsibility, making health disclosures can be a difficult decision depending on the situation, sources say.
“[When boards are considering disclosing], they are caught in this world between privacy and HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996] and material information,” says Davia Temin, CEO of strategy and communications consulting firm Temin and Company, who has served on multiple boards. “Clearly shareholders and analysts want the information immediately, and very often CEOs who are ill want more time [before disclosing]. Different companies have threaded the needle differently and walked that thin line differently.” Subscription required for full access. […read more]
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Uber CEO Kalanick’s Resignation Is Not The Best Answer
Leadership, “Reputation Matters,” Forbes, June 21, 2017
I am sad that Travis Kalanick had to resign. As news of the Uber CEO’s resignation is digested by the world’s media analysts and leadership pundits, I would like to put forth a contrarian point of view – especially coming from such an outspoken advocate of gender equity in organizations. I do not think this is the biggest win that we who are interested in a bias and harassment-free workplace could have hoped for. Not by a long-shot.
Reformation vs. Resignation
Kalanick’s reformation would have been such a more powerful and optimistic story. It would have shown that, yes, personal transformation is possible, even among tone-deaf, frat-boy, start-up executives. And it could have shown that once a leader is made to, and allowed to, grow up, he or she can own it, and then transform a culture. […read more]
Is Diversity in the Boardroom Reversing?
Laura W. Geller, Strategy+Business, June 21, 2017
After rising steadily for the past seven years, the number of women in the boardroom actually fell in 2016. According to Heidrick & Struggles’ latest Board Monitor study, women filled 27.8 percent of the open boardroom seats at Fortune 500 companies in 2016, down from 29.8 percent in 2015. Last year was the first time the percentage had fallen since 2009. Three years ago, the executive search firm believed women would reach parity in the boardroom by 2024; now it believes that day won’t come until 2032. It’s a troubling shift, and one that has the potential for ripple effects. […read more]
Crisis of the Week: Fujifilm Addresses Accounting Problems
Ben DiPietro, The Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal, June 19, 2017
Fujifilm Holdings announced that losses from accounting irregularities in New Zealand were much larger than first thought and extended to the company’s Australian office-equipment unit. The announcement left some to wonder how much control the company has over its overseas units.
The company said it conducted a review and found the losses would widen further but did say it found “a problem” with controls at its Fuji Xerox subsidiary. Fujifilm said inappropriate accounting occurred in part because of commission and bonus “incentives” for managers and employees that “placed an emphasis on sales.” It said six board members at Fuji Xerox would resign to take responsibility for the losses that now total around $340 million. It also docked the pay of all Fuji Xerox board members and two other senior executives.
Using Fujifilm’s statements and those of its executives, the experts break down the company’s crisis management performance in this instance.
“Fujifilm’s public response to its ‘inappropriate accounting’ crisis was enough to be effective as witnessed by the fact the story lasted no more than a few days in the global news cycle,” said Davia Temin. “While the company’s public responses were terse, minimal and occasionally odd, they were unprecedented in their openness and disclosure.” […read more]