Directors & Boards has excerpted part of Rob’s new book regarding Tolerating Dysfunctional Leaders in their Thought Leadership section of their Q4 2014 publication. “From a roundup of new books, insights on mentorship, executive team under-performance, enduring traits, director interlocks, doing an IPO . . . and the value of your non-customers” they included Rob’s newest book.
Many closely held companies don’t have a functioning board at all. Investor-backed private companies usually have boards, but many are dysfunctional, neither helping management perform at higher levels nor managing risk.
A secret to Waze’s billion dollar exit: The relationship with their board and lead VC. I connected with BlueRun Ventures Founder and General Manager John Malloy and interviewed him and Waze’s CEO.
For company founders and sitting CEOs, the decision to pass the CEO seat to another is a big, risky decision. This article talks about how critical boards are– especially for closely held companies.
CFO Magazine’s online edition has asked me to write a monthly column about improving the CEO/CFO dynamic in mid-market companies. The first article just went up, and focuses on interacting with the board of directors.
Mid-market CEOS are experts at managing fiscal cliffs, unlike Washington which has us teetering on the edge, and as of today, most likely falling off the cliff head over heels.
I did some thinking about the lessons that VC backed CEOs could teach Washington, and have written my latest post on just that subject.
Ceil McCloy, CEO and her husband Dave Dobson, Co-Founder of Integrated Science Solutions, Inc. (ISSI), brought in outside board members as a strategic decision. Often businesses pay only lip service to their Board, just barely fulfilling legal requirements. But bolstering the Board’s role in oversight of your business can be very beneficial, as it has for ISSI.
Founders have different aspirations. Some founder CEOs are eager and able to develop their CEO skills enough to run a mid-market company, while others are not. Those who want to keep the job must build those skills rapidly, ahead of the needs of the business, if they hope to keep the backing of their investors.
Nothing is for sure with big, broad constituencies. The bigger the group, the more variation there will be in how people react to needed change. Jim Harrison, CEO of MLSListings Inc., shows us how the patient leader listens to everyone, never reacts impulsively, and works in the interest of building consensus.
Small publics that are struggling to raise capital can fall prey to fraud. Belinda Tsao-Nivaggioli, CEO of Avicena Group Inc (OTCBB AVGO), a lifesciences firm, illustrates how difficult it can be to detect and successfully deal with a fraudster.
Robert Sher is founding principal of CEO to CEO, a consulting firm of former chief executives that improves the leadership infrastructure of midsized companies seeking to accelerate their performance. He was chief executive of Bentley Publishing Group from 1984 to 2006 and steered the firm to become a leading player in its industry (decorative art publishing).