CEO conduct - Mahony Partners

Sep

2011

3 Communication tips when firing the CEO

Financial Services, Taking & Managing Risk

Last week Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK) abruptly announced that its CEO, Robert Kelly was leaving, citing “differences in approaches to managing the company.” The story made headlines for a day but was quickly forgotten, and the stock price has held pretty steady – both hallmarks of a communications success. Of course it helps that the bank doesn’t stir public passions the way some other banks do, and that its business dwells in the normally sedate world of securities custody and transaction processing. Still,... Read More

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

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