Climate change has all but disappeared from the headlines, aside from serving as a popular punching bag for Republican presidential candidates. But while politicians are busy denying the problem, businesses are taking action. There’s ample evidence that corporations recognize the risk of climate change and are factoring it into their investment planning. According to media […]
The new ad campaign unveiled this week by Bank of America faces an uphill battle to restore the bank’s battered reputation. Advertising alone can’t do the job, really. For the message to stick, it will take a coordinated effort across many communication channels (see a related post here). More important, a lasting improvement in the […]
GE, the embodiment of American capitalism, is under fire from conservatives for CEO Jeff Immelt’s role on a presidential advisory panel and other alleged misdeeds. The sniping has mostly been heard on Fox News and at Republican presidential primary events, but Monday’s Wall Street Journal brought the story right to the doorstep of GE’s clients. […]
I recently heard a senior marketing executive at a top global investment firm discuss their highly successful brand-advertising campaign. (He addressed a group of about 300 people, but I’ve kept him anonymous as I didn’t have permission to attribute his remarks.) His lessons are noteworthy, and so is the campaign, which has been very visible […]
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about risk and corporate cultures. Some cultures produce disasters, like the massive, concealed trading loss at UBS – the most recent in a long streak of debacles for the bank. Other environments, however, seem consistently to produce good things – valued products and great experiences. Apple of course comes […]
The note earlier today by Morgan Stanley CEO Jim Gorman addressing what he called “confusion and misinformation” about the firm wasn’t too reassuring. It’s not likely to quell the rumors about the firm, nor does it do much to improve Gorman’s stature. By penning such a short memo (a mere 218 words), Gorman clearly did […]
Tempers must be on the boil at Morgan Stanley today. The lead business article in the New York Times reported on investor concerns about the firm’s exposure to European debt, its earnings power and its liquidity, which brought the stock down by 10.5% last week. And to make matters worse, the piece noted – without […]
Today’s New York Times spotlights the rich payouts to failed CEOs, drawing special attention to three CEOs who recently were fired: Carol Bartz of Yahoo, Léo Apotheker of HP and Bob Kelly of Bank of New York Mellon. (See my earlier posts on how these departures were communicated.) While it may spark outrage, these payouts […]
In London, the Observer newspaper recently published an interview with Sting, in which he discusses his life and music, and I’m recommending it and a companion video as this week’s Friday Risk Reading. The parallels between Sting’s childhood and early career and that of Keith Richards (who is My Business Guru) are pretty striking. Sting […]
Summer ended last week and with it the last of the season’s peaches. So it seemed only fitting to have them go out in a blaze of glory as a tart. Since they were so perfectly ripe, only a slight dusting of sugar was needed, then into a simple, homemade crust they went. After about […]