http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com We Stress Test Your Strategies Wed, 11 Aug 2010 23:46:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/staying-rational-in-irrational-times/ http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/staying-rational-in-irrational-times/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:30:44 +0000 Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/?p=989 We found John Cassidy's essay in the Oct. 5 New Yorker, "The Real Reason that Capitalism is so Crash-Prone," to be illuminating about the challenges of managing in an irrational context, like the recent credit craze or the more distant dot-com and telecom bubbles. Cassidy argues that, even if managers know that they are in the middle of a bubble, they have little choice but to go along. Boards and investors tell them: "Do it, or move aside so that someone else can." Few can resist such pressure.]]> http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/staying-rational-in-irrational-times/feed/ 0 http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/directors-boards-change-the-dialogue-with-management/ http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/directors-boards-change-the-dialogue-with-management/#comments Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:01:45 +0000 Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui http://www.billiondollarlessons.com/?p=217 As we mentioned in an earlier post about the challenges being faced by the board of directors at Bank of America, we have an article in the First Quarter 2009 issue of Directors & Boards. That issue is now available and we've posted the final text below. As always, we welcome your comments. Change the Dialogue with Management In looking for approaches to head off embarrassing strategic errors, we found that this is the key. If the blame game goes as it usually does, criticism about the mistakes that led to the current recession and to poor performance at so many companies won’t stop with the CEO. Aspersions will be tossed at boards, too. To see how this might look, read the withering complaints about the Lehman Brothers board that failed to stop the CEO from running the company out of existence.]]> http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/directors-boards-change-the-dialogue-with-management/feed/ 0 http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/the-need-for-boards-to-change-the-dialogue-with-management/ http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/the-need-for-boards-to-change-the-dialogue-with-management/#comments Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:59:53 +0000 Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui http://www.billiondollarlessons.com/?p=208 The recent attacks on the Bank of America board, related to the ill-fated decision to buy Merrill Lynch, underscore the need for boards to change the dialogue with management. A New York Times piece on BofA focuses, as many articles do, on the clubby nature of many boardrooms--you serve on my board, I serve on yours, and we make nice with each other. But the issue is broader than that. Even if you have a truly independent board with lots of diverse viewpoints, the CEO will still carry the day almost every time. He has all the information and controls how it's presented to the board. He makes the decisions, while the board pretty much is limited to deciding whether he gets to continue in the job or whether he should be replaced--a call that boards seldom make unless the situation is dire.]]> http://www.devilsadvocategroup.com/the-need-for-boards-to-change-the-dialogue-with-management/feed/ 1