Corporate Governance traditionally involves the application of wisdom and experience in guiding and assisting the CEO and the executive team with effective decision-making to promote the sustainability and success of the organisation.  In the past, with more stable operating environments, the governance role may have consisted mostly of ensuring that the organisation defended its market position by maintaining and protecting its established and traditional business model.  If anything, change in such conditions would have focused primarily on improving efficiency.  And the benchmark for efficiency would have been on how effectively costs could be reduced. Continue reading →

Greg Smith’s actions in publicly exiting Goldman Sachs this month with an open letter in the New York times lamenting the lack of values in the venerable investment bank powerfully underscores the values point. Two days later, Goldman Sachs had lost over $2.3 billion in market value. Values are inextricably linked to value transformation in the Global Village, where social media can empower a previously anonymous middle management executive to open and expose the values deficit in corporate behaviour in a seemingly invincible global company, with devastating consequences. Continue reading →