*The Stars Have Aligned ... Sort Of: New survey findings reveal that, in the opinion of surveyed high-net work investors and financial advisors, corporate board members are too
closely aligned with the interests of executive management teams, as opposed to shareholders. The survey, conducted by FTI Consulting, polled more than 200 of these investors and
professional advisors, and, among other things, found that Sarbanes-Oxley might have a limited impact on improving governance practices. Among the findings:
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87% of advisors and 88% of investors see a close connection between effective corporate governance and a company's reputation. Thus, the perception of boards as
operating in management's interests - not shareholders' - is problematic for corporate reputation, as boards' alignment with shareholders is a fundamental corporate governance
issue.
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82% and 71% of financial advisors and high-net-worth investors, respectively, believe reputation accounts for more than 20% of a company's market value, compared to only
29% and 20%, respectively, who think boards account for more than 20% of market value.
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Despite the time and cost invested in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance since the law's passing in 2002, a relatively small percentage of respondents (13% of financial advisors and
12% of high-net-worth investors) believe that corporate governance practices have improved "a great deal" since the act's passage.
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45% of financial advisors and 43% of high-net worth individuals think that post-Sarbox governance practices have improved only "a moderate amount."
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56% of financial advisors and 41% of high-net-worth investors said a board accounts for more than 10% of a company's share value.
With all the reputation-related stats uncovered by the findings, communications executives are wise to take note.
Source: FTI Consulting
*Meet & Greet: Sean Cheyney, VP, marketing and business development of AccuQuote, offers these four tips on imediaconnection.com for making every networking event a
success:
1. Have fun: It's important to realize that business and fun go hand-in-hand. It's not a coincidence that most networking events typically involve cocktails, food and some sort
of entertainment. Networking in general is a fun social activity. When you go into it with this mindset, it becomes much more productive.
2. Have a plan and do the prep work: At many events, you can find the list of attendees ahead of time. When this is possible put all of the attendees in Excel and sort them by
company. At this point, use a color-coding system to help set your goals [which might include getting a certain number of business cards or reaching a particular dollar-figure in
sales].
3. Step out of your comfort zone: Don't spend the entire night hanging out with people you already know, especially if you already work with them. Plan on spending at least 60%
of your networking time talking with people you don't know. Look at nametags and strike up a conversation with anyone from a company that looks interesting to you. Remember that
everyone is in exactly the same boat as you.
4. Follow up after the fact: Immediately after the event, enter your business cards into your contact manager [you can use CardScan to export everything to Outlook]. Then take
your cards and divide them into piles: People who I want to do business with right now, and people who I don't want to do business with right now. Send out emails to everyone,
regardless of what pile their business card is in.
Source: Sean Cheyney, iMedia Connection
*Key Staffing Metrics: A recent cross-industry study of 34 leading international businesses, including Merck, Novartis, Intel and IBM, published by Best Practices reveals 23
key metrics for conducting a gap analysis on staffing and outsourcing marketing operations within their organizations. The metrics include (for a complete list, view the report at
:
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Total Employee Base
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Sales Revenue
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Internal FTEs (full-time equivalents) for Marketing Strategy and Planning
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Total Employees per Marketing Strategy and Planning FTE
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Percent of Marketing Strategy/Planning Budget Outsourced
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Sales Revenue per Marketing Strategy and Planning FTE
Source: Best Practices
*Eight ways to build collaborative teams: Current business challenges require teams that are diverse, educated, specialized and, in many cases, virtual. Here, Harvard Business
Review provides eight tips for fulfilling all these needs in one team effort:
1. "Signature" relationship practices that build bonds among the staff in memorable ways that are suited to the company's business.
2. Role models of collaboration among executives, which help cooperations trickle down to the staff.
3. The establishment of a "gift culture" in which managers support employees by mentoring them daily.
4. Training in relationship skills, such as communication and conflict resolution.
5. A sense of community, which corporate HR can foster by sponsoring group activities.
6. Ambidexterous leadership, or leaders who are both task-oriented and relationship-oriented.
7. Good use of heritage relationships, by populating teams with members who know and trust one another.
8. Role clarity and task ambiguity, achieved by defining individual roles sharply but giving teams latitude on approach.
Source: Harvard Business Review, November 2007 PRN