Go To Harvard Business School Professor, former Medtronic CEO
Published on August 29, 2018
After a flurry of activity with bankers, investors and the Tesla board, Elon Musk announced last Friday that he had changed his mind and Tesla would continue to be a public company. Musk should stop worrying about beating the short sellers and focus entirely on rebuilding Tesla’s depleted leadership ranks. Tesla board needs to be…
Published on August 17, 2018
Senator Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday proposed The Accountable Capitalism Act – new federal legislation requiring corporations to consider the interests of employees and other stakeholders as well as shareholders. Warren’s legislation is based on the belief that CEOs have abandoned all stakeholders other than shareholders. In principle, Warren’s ideas sound good, but they are based…
Published on July 23, 2018
Relatively free trade has enabled consumers to purchase myriad products at much lower prices. This has given American consumers a much higher standard of living in a time of limited wage growth. There is a reasonable probability that the combination of inflation and higher interest rates resulting from a trade war will throw the U.S….
Published on July 18, 2018
By Brittain Ladd This article was originally posted on Forbes.com on 7/17/18. Elon Musk is quickly garnering a reputation for being more petulant and irritating than inspirational and worthy of praise. Stung by criticism that his mini-submarine designed to rescue the team of boys trapped in a cave in Thailand wouldn’t work, Musk sent out a Tweet…
Published on June 6, 2018
Kellie Ell Former Yum Brands CEO David Novak says Schultz has managed to balance “his need for profit with his social agenda.” Novak says Schultz, a businessman, has a “different story,” than someone like former President Obama, a community worker. In a CNBC interview, Schultz declines to speak in detail about his future, saying, “Let’s…
Published on May 25, 2018
Denise Morrison’s sudden retirement as CEO of Campbell Soup highlighted the struggles that all consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are having in today’s rapidly changing markets. Except one: Unilever. Since Paul Polman assumed the helm as CEO in January 2009, Unilever has risen above the pack with a long-term vision and consistently strong performance. In many ways, Unilever…
Published on April 30, 2018
Ford’s new CEO, Jim Hackett, announced a bold strategic move for America’s most enduring automaker: abandoning the car business. Bowing to short-term shareholder pressures that felled predecessor Mark Fields, Hackett is undoing 115 years of Ford’s automobile legacy. A 3 percent jump in Ford’s stock price validated Hackett’s decision, but that adrenaline shot could be…
Published on April 24, 2018
Starbucks and Facebook present a contrast in crisis leadership, says Bill George. While Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson stepped up to take responsibility and met with victims, Mark Zuckerberg delayed action and side-stepped responsibility. Johnson & Johnson CEO Jim Burke’s leadership during the 1982 Tylenol crisis is what we at Harvard Business School teach as the standard for handling a high-stakes public crisis….
Published on April 22, 2018
LIZ FEDOR Since 2016, seven of Minnesota’s 15 largest public companies announced CEO departures. n 2017, Richard Davis left his CEO job at U.S. Bancorp, and a few months later Ken Powell gave up the CEO reins at General Mills, as did Stephen Hemsley at UnitedHealth Group. On July 1, Inge Thulin will step down…
Published on March 12, 2018
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s open letter to CEOs has reignited the “shareholders versus stakeholders” debate. Bill George says it’s actually not much of a debate: mission-driven, values-centered companies perform better. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink’s recent letter to all CEOs in the S&P 500 has reignited the never-ending debate of “shareholders versus stakeholders.” Titled “A Sense of Purpose,” Fink’s letter…