Are you a business leader? A corporate director, CEO or general manager?
If so, how many “germaine dimensions of management” do you own? Can
you list them? Describe them? Create combinations with them tailored to
the task-at-hand? Which ones are missing for you that, if present, would
enable you to make a breakthrough in your effectiveness?
This is what great leadership is all about: considering all the germaine dimensions
of a given problem or opportunity, and then integrating them into a response
that advances your position in terms of strategy, mission, and vision.
To learn how to ensure your tool kit of management diemsions is complete,
contact Mark W. Sickles at 732-612-3783, or mark@nacdnj.org
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Global Corporate Governance Breakthrough
Recently, Mark W. Sickles served as Chairman of the 3rd Annual MENA
Region Corporate Governance Congress in Dubai. Due to the economy,
the quantity of attendees was down from last year, but the quality of those
who did attend was exceptional. Mark responded by transforming the
congress into a highly interactive discussion among this globally diverse
group of governance opinion leaders and practitioners, producing what we
feel is a solution to the current economic problem: A statement of The
Universal Purpose of Corporate Governance.
Mark began the congress by leading the group through an inquiry into
the meaning of the following statement: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”.
The group felt this statement meant we should be looking for opportunity
in the face of our current adversity. As the saying goes, breakthroughs are
often preceded by breakdowns, and we certainly have the latter. Mark
then proposed that this is no time for the tranquilizing drug of gradualism;
no time for projecting the past forward; no time for “business as usual”.
Instead, Mark asserted this is a time for bold, decisive action; for declaring
a future outside the realm of business as usual; for creating a level of
performance that could not be predicted by anything done in the past.
Mark suggested that declaring this future of corporate governance and then
“pulling that future” into the present with effective action was not only an
opportunity for those at the congress; it was their responsibility to the
global business community. And so they did.
The congress culminated at the end of the second day with Mark facilitating
a process in which a combination of speakers and delegates representing
every major region of the world produced the statement of The Universal
Purpose of Corporate Governance. This statement is based on the following
three assertions:
1. The 4 pillars of governance are government, education, professional
associations, and industry. (The .govs, .edus, .orgs, and .coms) Government
needs to coordinate with education and professional associations to provide
guidance and support to industry. Industry values need to be managed in
the contexts of professional and ethical values toward the goal of sustainability.
2. The focus should be on the creation and management of firm-level cultures
based on ethical, professional, and industry standards. If a firm, unit, function,
or individual is not adding value from the view of all three standards, it is
unethical to continue on that path. Governments should prevent this through
regulation, legislation and enforcement; nothing more, nothing less.
3. The goal for industry and professional standards is to set the bar higher than
ethical standards and governmental regulations, whose purpose is to serve as a
safety net to prevent economic fiascos like Enronitis and the current capital
market crisis.
These assertions lead to the following statement: "The universal purpose of
governance is to integrate ethical, professional, and industry values and standards
into firm-level cultures that enable winning strategies, minimize risk, meet the
needs and expectations of the firms’ stakeholders, and fulfill the firms’ responsibility
for a sustainable world.”
How Should You Respond?
We propose that firms around the world respond to this governance breakthrough
the same way the speakers and delegates at the congress responded to create it:
With bold, decisive actions to achieve extraordinary results. This can be done in a
two step process:
1. Develop a deep understanding of the meaning and implications of the Universal
Purpose of Corporate Governance.
2. Develop your own unique, proprietary purpose for corporate governance that
aligns with the Universal Purpose while providing your firm with a sustainable
competitive advantage.
The primary system for taking these two steps include the ten principles of Strategic Governance introduced to the global business community by Mark during the first
day of the congress:
Top Ten Principles of Strategic Governance
1. The Purpose of Governance
2. The Purpose of Strategy
3. The Essence of Risk
4. The Relationship Between Governance, Strategy, and Risk
5. The Relationship Between Boards, Governance, and Shareholders
6. The Relationship Between Boards, Management, and Shareholders
7. The Relationship Between Boards, Strategy, and Culture
8. The Relationship Between Boards, Management, and Strategy
9. The Purpose of Culture
10. The Relationship Between Organizational Design and Strategy
Your mastery and subsequent application of this system of interdependent
principles, supported by a related system of models, methods, and techniques,
will provide your firm with the holistic capability needed to fulfill the universal
governance purpose. This “systems level” of performance will enable your firm
to set and achieve internal standards far greater than any external criteria,
thereby complementing the effective role of regulation, legislation, and enforcement:
Assuring a principle-based approach to corporate governance.
To begin the process of transforming your firm into a Strategic Governance model
that fulfills the Universal Purpose of Corporate Governance in a way that provides
you with a sustainable competitive advantage, contact Mark at 732-612-3783, or mark@nacdnj.org.
Region Corporate Governance Congress in Dubai. Due to the economy,
the quantity of attendees was down from last year, but the quality of those
who did attend was exceptional. Mark responded by transforming the
congress into a highly interactive discussion among this globally diverse
group of governance opinion leaders and practitioners, producing what we
feel is a solution to the current economic problem: A statement of The
Universal Purpose of Corporate Governance.
Mark began the congress by leading the group through an inquiry into
the meaning of the following statement: “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”.
The group felt this statement meant we should be looking for opportunity
in the face of our current adversity. As the saying goes, breakthroughs are
often preceded by breakdowns, and we certainly have the latter. Mark
then proposed that this is no time for the tranquilizing drug of gradualism;
no time for projecting the past forward; no time for “business as usual”.
Instead, Mark asserted this is a time for bold, decisive action; for declaring
a future outside the realm of business as usual; for creating a level of
performance that could not be predicted by anything done in the past.
Mark suggested that declaring this future of corporate governance and then
“pulling that future” into the present with effective action was not only an
opportunity for those at the congress; it was their responsibility to the
global business community. And so they did.
The congress culminated at the end of the second day with Mark facilitating
a process in which a combination of speakers and delegates representing
every major region of the world produced the statement of The Universal
Purpose of Corporate Governance. This statement is based on the following
three assertions:
1. The 4 pillars of governance are government, education, professional
associations, and industry. (The .govs, .edus, .orgs, and .coms) Government
needs to coordinate with education and professional associations to provide
guidance and support to industry. Industry values need to be managed in
the contexts of professional and ethical values toward the goal of sustainability.
2. The focus should be on the creation and management of firm-level cultures
based on ethical, professional, and industry standards. If a firm, unit, function,
or individual is not adding value from the view of all three standards, it is
unethical to continue on that path. Governments should prevent this through
regulation, legislation and enforcement; nothing more, nothing less.
3. The goal for industry and professional standards is to set the bar higher than
ethical standards and governmental regulations, whose purpose is to serve as a
safety net to prevent economic fiascos like Enronitis and the current capital
market crisis.
These assertions lead to the following statement: "The universal purpose of
governance is to integrate ethical, professional, and industry values and standards
into firm-level cultures that enable winning strategies, minimize risk, meet the
needs and expectations of the firms’ stakeholders, and fulfill the firms’ responsibility
for a sustainable world.”
How Should You Respond?
We propose that firms around the world respond to this governance breakthrough
the same way the speakers and delegates at the congress responded to create it:
With bold, decisive actions to achieve extraordinary results. This can be done in a
two step process:
1. Develop a deep understanding of the meaning and implications of the Universal
Purpose of Corporate Governance.
2. Develop your own unique, proprietary purpose for corporate governance that
aligns with the Universal Purpose while providing your firm with a sustainable
competitive advantage.
The primary system for taking these two steps include the ten principles of Strategic Governance introduced to the global business community by Mark during the first
day of the congress:
Top Ten Principles of Strategic Governance
1. The Purpose of Governance
2. The Purpose of Strategy
3. The Essence of Risk
4. The Relationship Between Governance, Strategy, and Risk
5. The Relationship Between Boards, Governance, and Shareholders
6. The Relationship Between Boards, Management, and Shareholders
7. The Relationship Between Boards, Strategy, and Culture
8. The Relationship Between Boards, Management, and Strategy
9. The Purpose of Culture
10. The Relationship Between Organizational Design and Strategy
Your mastery and subsequent application of this system of interdependent
principles, supported by a related system of models, methods, and techniques,
will provide your firm with the holistic capability needed to fulfill the universal
governance purpose. This “systems level” of performance will enable your firm
to set and achieve internal standards far greater than any external criteria,
thereby complementing the effective role of regulation, legislation, and enforcement:
Assuring a principle-based approach to corporate governance.
To begin the process of transforming your firm into a Strategic Governance model
that fulfills the Universal Purpose of Corporate Governance in a way that provides
you with a sustainable competitive advantage, contact Mark at 732-612-3783, or mark@nacdnj.org.
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