Taking & Managing Risk - Mahony Partners

Sep

2011

Cantor Fitzgerald: A Lesson in Risk Taking

Financial Services, Taking & Managing Risk

Ten years after the terror attack that killed two-thirds of its New York staff and nearly destroyed the firm, Cantor Fitzgerald is thriving, the New York Times reported in a Sunday feature. The firm’s success is due in large measure to CEO Howard Lutnick and a handful of executives who survived the day. Their determination, hard work and willingness to take risks brought the firm through an unimaginably difficult ordeal. (Disclosure: I was the principal Read More

Aug

2011

3 Rules for public companies when attacking a critic

Financial Services, Taking & Managing Risk

Bank of America’s shot at Henry Blodget is a measure of how influential the blogosphere has now become in the financial markets. It’s also a reminder of the pitfalls of taking on critics publicly in any forum. For every company that has seen its stock price plummet, the scene within BofA is a familiar one: Shareholders are distraught, the board is urging the CEO to take action, the PR people are under pressure to staunch the bad ink - so the company decides to take a swipe at a critical analyst. Not so long ago, a public shooting was reserved for analysts at big-name firms o... Read More

Aug

2011

3 of “Richard’s Rules” for employee communications on M&A deals

Taking & Managing Risk

I recently spoke to graduate students at Baruch College in New York City. The topic was employee communications in M&A deals, and I introduced what I call “Richard’s Rules” for these situations. Here’s a sample. 1. News will leak, and usually at the worst time. Anyone who has handled communications for an M&A deal knows that a leak is always a possibility. People talk, rumors spread, and pretty soon there’s a call from a reporter or a blog post gone viral. For a recent example, look no further than Sunday afternoon’s announcement Read More

Jul

2011

Keith Richards: My Business Guru

Music, Taking & Managing Risk

Not long ago, I read Life, by Keith Richards. Sure, he’s known around the world as the lead guitarist for the Rolling Stones, but I’d add him to the pantheon of business-management gurus. Surprised? Don’t be. Richards’s life is filled with examples of the kind of behavior that people and organizations should do to be successful. No, I don’t mean the heroin. I mean re-invention. Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones burst onto the ... Read More