2018
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Institutional investors (both active managers and index fund giants) spent the last few years raising their expectations of public company boards—a trend we expect to see continue in 2019. The demand for board quality, effectiveness, and accountability to shareholders will continue to accelerate across all global markets. Toward the end of each year, Russell Reynolds…
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CEO Transitions: Mitigating Risks and Accelerating Value Creation [Russell Reynolds Associates]
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2 min read
CEO transitions have always been challenging, but never more so than in today’s environment. As a board governance, leadership consulting and search firm, Russell Reynolds Associates is asked regularly to conduct CEO searches and support long-term CEO succession planning. We advise our clients not to forget about transition planning as a distinct process that needs…
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General Electric builds a lot of things — including leaders. Since GE’s 1892 founding in Schenectady, New York, almost every single GE CEO has spent all, or virtually all, of his career at the company. As the conglomerate has grown across continents and industries, it has repeatedly been able to develop leaders with diverse skills…
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In Search of Greatness: How to Choose an Independent Board Leader [Russell Reynolds Associates]
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1 min read
What makes a great board leader – and how do you know? When US boards look for a new non-executive leader – or a director candidate who could fill that role when the time comes – they often try to identify ideal candidates by looking at backgrounds and experiences. It is a worthwhile endeavor, as…
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GE signed two deals late last year to sell jet engines to China’s Juneyao Airlines and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). The sales are worth a combined $2.5 billion, and in announcing them, GE highlighted that “China will displace the United States as the world’s largest aviation market in 2022, two years faster…
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Future Perfect: What it Takes to Manage for the Long Term [Russell Reynolds Associates]
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3 min read
For years, U.S. public companies have faced pressure from Wall Street to meet or beat quarterly earnings estimates. In response, they have discontinued quarterly guidance, forgone major investments, and sometimes prettied up results with accounting tricks. These defense mechanisms succeed to varying degrees but reveal a concerning truth: Executives often allow the market to define…
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Intelligence Community Leaders Are Readers – and Writers, Too [North American Society for Intelligence History]
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2 min read
Harry Truman famously said, “all leaders are readers.” In the Intelligence Community, they are writers, too. This bibliography, created as part of a larger research effort, includes all the book-length works written by heads of US Intelligence Community member organizations. The list is long – 204 entries – and the topics covered are both impressive…
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Leadership Traits: Balancing the Loud and the Quiet [American Management Association Playbook]
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1 min read
The stereotypical CEO in movies and TV is overwhelmingly loud. The reality for CEOs and other executives is more complex. Recently, Russell Reynolds Associates and Hogan Assessments examined nearly 5 million psychological profiles of workers and executives. We found that the most successful individuals are those who can balance pairs of competing competencies—a model we…