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| Volume 7, Best of 2007
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In This Best of 2007 Issue:
 Iacocca’s nine Cs of leadership
The truth about CFO Turnover
 CFOs wanted: Controllers need not apply
The essential skills [to be a CFO]
Tickling the keyboard: 10 spreadsheet tips
 6 ways to kill your credit score
7 Net-worth killers
Think before you hit 'send'
25 Dream vacation homes
 Top (10) ways to show appreciation to employees & coworkers
Sample job interview questions for the employer
The Great debates about 360 degree feedback
[Google’s] Top ten ways to show appreciation
 Are you getting enough sleep?
Most affordable places to live well
Ten eating habits to avoid
Top Brain Boosters
 No satisfaction at Toyota
 Do your employees qualify for overtime?
 How to look like a workaholic
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Iacocca’s cine Cs of leadership
I've never been Commander in Chief, but I've been a CEO. I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I've figured out nine points—not ten [I don't want people accusing me of thinking I'm Moses]. I call them the “Nine Cs of Leadership” - says an excerpt from former Chrysler Chairman and CEO Lee Iacocca’s Where Have
All the Leaders Gone? Enter, Robert Nardelli, who private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management named the new Chrysler’s CEO and one with numerous sobriquets, including “The Turnaround Specialist”, “The Hatchet Guy”, “Tough Job, Tough Guy”. The list
goes on...When asked by Fortune in April, what he would be doing if he were to be back as CEO of Chrysler, Iacocca, in his characteristic style, put it bluntly:
[Here’s Iacocca’s C-list, not only for Nardelli, but for all corporate leaders, as listed in his book...]
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The truth about CFO turnover
Why nearly one in seven Fortune 500 companies lost a CFO last year—and how to stop the exodus.
Alvaro de Molina may not have been the first CFO to leave his position in search of something better, but he was probably the most candid about why he was leaving. Calling his job “suffocating,” de Molina exited Bank of America last December after only 18 months as
finance chief. “The roles of the CFO and the CEO are not as fun as they used to be from a regulatory standpoint, but the CEO gets to run the show,” de Molina told the press at the time. “The CFO of a well-run company gets all of the guts but none of the glory.” That
sentiment may well sum up why turnover among CFOs at public companies has soared over the past three years. In 2006, 12 Fortune 50 CFOs bailed on their jobs, while the year before, companies with $1 billion-plus market caps changed CFOs three times more often than they
did in 2002. Though a recent study by global executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates found that CFO turnover as a whole slowed a bit in 2006, CFO departures due to resignations actually increased by 41 percent over 2005.
Why Do They Go?
Aside from firings over poor performance and backdating scandals, many, like de Molina, are simply fed up. Having achieved...
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CFOs Wanted: Controllers Need Not Apply
Why companies often won't consider controllers when choosing their next finance chiefs.
Controllers couldn't make all the numbers work out for them this time. New research shows that as of April 2006, the number of Fortune 500 CFOs hired from outside of
their new companies total 190. While 58 percent were plucked from the ranks of existing corporate or divisional CFOs, a paltry 4 percent were sitting controllers.
That's because controllers are rarely viewed as CFO material outside their own companies, according to research that was released on Monday by executive search
firm Korn Ferry International at the CFO Rising conference in Orlando. Rounding out the survey of external CFO hires, 17 percent of big company finance chiefs were
chief executive officers and general managers immediately before being named to the CFO slot, 9 percent were senior financial generalists, 3 percent were treasurers, 4
percent were involved in strategy and corporate development, and 5 percent came from "other" disciplines. advertisement Outside controllers aren't prime candidates
for finance-chief spots because...
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The essential skills [to be a CFO]
To ascend to (and remain in) the CFO's office, you need much more than financial acumen.
No one becomes a CFO without possessing the commensurate finance skills. No one thrives as a CFO, however, without having much more. As Scott Simmons, vice president of Crist Associates, a Chicago-based recruiter, puts it: "No company wants
just a really good finance person anymore; they want someone who can go beyond that." But exactly what are those other essential skills? What capabilities, talents, and expertise should be in a CFO's toolbox no matter what industry or
company he works for or challenges she may face? To hear CFOs tell it, "toolbox" may be the wrong metaphor: magician's bag of tricks is more like it. There's nothing easy about mastering the soft skills they say are essential, and which seem to boil
down to clairvoyance, X-ray vision, and the ability to bend time. Ultimately, however, there is a common theme...
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Tickling the keyboard: 10 spreadsheet tips
Basic shortcuts to smooth the use of Excel. It may not be one of the seven wonders of the digital world, but for CFOs, nothing compares with Microsoft’s Excel for performing calculations, tracking a variety of business items, and making forecasts of what the future might hold in store.
The problem is that the program is so complicated that few busy finance chiefs can ever use more than a handful of Excel’s many capabilities. When things get complicated, it may be most helpful to start simply—and when it comes to computing, you can't get much simpler
than the keyboard. Following are 10 essential keyboard shortcuts that have the power to streamline how to use Excel. While the focus is on using Excel 2003, most of the shortcuts apply to older and newer versions as well. One thing is for certain: the bigger the
spreadsheet, the more time the shortcuts can save...
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6 Ways to Kill Your Credit Score
A low score means higher rates. Here's how you may be doing yourself harm.
Lenders, insurers, landlords and others will charge you more or flat-out reject you if you show up with a low FICO score. Here's how you may be doing yourself harm...
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7 Net-Worth Killers
Saving and spending aren't the only factors affecting your net worth. How you manage (or don't manage) your assets and liabilities can make a big difference, too.
...
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Think before you hit 'send'
Careless e-mailing has brought down some high-flyers. Here are a few of the executives who lost their jobs, their careers or their reputations thanks in part to e-mail.
A saucy detail in the scandal surrounding Wal-Mart's firing of Julie Roehm is an e-mail that she sent to her subordinate, Sean Womack. In it the former senior vice president of marketing communications wrote: "I think about us together all of the time. Little moments like watching your face when you kiss me.
Steven Heyer stepped down as CEO of Starwood Hotels after the company's board reportedly pressed him to explain allegations of suggestive e-mails between him and a younger female employee...
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25 Dream Vacation Homes
Shangri-La really is for sale -- and so are these breathtaking getaways in Anguilla, Tuscany and France
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Top Ten Ways to Retain Your Great Employees
Why Retention? Four Tips for Employee Retention
Key employee retention is critical to the long term health and success of your business. Managers readily agree that retaining your best employees ensures customer
satisfaction, product sales, satisfied coworkers and reporting staff, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded organizational knowledge and learning. If
managers can cite these facts so well, why do they behave in ways that so frequently encourage great employees to quit their jobs?...
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Sample job interview questions for the employer
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Many employers spend a lot of interview time asking potential employees questions such as, "what would you do if …" Now, I do believe some decent knowledge about the candidate's qualifications can come from such questions. I have even heard myself ask them in the past despite the fact that I know a better way to interview. I recommend that you kick the
concept of behavioral interviewing up a notch. You want to know, not just what the candidate predicts he or she will do in some future work situation; you want to know exactly what they have already
done in the past. These behavioral interview questions will help you know what to ask. Additionally, on the subject of cultural fit, there is a whole group of questions I have yet to write about. They are open-ended, challenge the candidate to come up with original,
unprepared answers, and tell you much about how the candidate will fit in your work environment. Several examples of these questions are...
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The Great debates about 360 degree feedback
Each of us wants to know how we’re doing at work.
We especially want data from our supervisor that tells us that we are doing well. We have a great need to know how others view our work but we want the information in a kind and
gentle fashion. When learning how to provide effective feedback, managers discover how to give meaningful feedback in a way that ensures the employee shares meaning,
my favorite definition for communication...
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[Google s] Top Ten Ways to Show Appreciation
Attending an ad club event last week, I listened to a Google manager, Grady Burnett, describe his company and their corporate culture.
Sure, you've read about the free food, the fact that developers are enabled to spend twenty percent of their time on projects of their choice - many hallmarks of a
successful company that is making money. But he gave us ideas for simple employee motivation and
team building factors, too...
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Are you getting enough sleep?
If you want to be healthy, you know you've got to eat more greens and hit the gym. But did you know that cuddling your pillow a little longer also does you good?
While it's not a new discovery that sleep makes us feel better, in the past several years medical research has shown that slumber has a much bigger impact on our overall health and fitness than just keeping away those under-eye bags. The problem is that, in the midst of
our hectic, workaholic lives, getting enough rest tends to be a low priority. In fact, a study published this month in the journal SLEEP confirms that...
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Most affordable places to live well
Triple-digit monthly parking fees, $12 movie tickets, clogged intersections and weekly grocery bills that rival some mortgage payments.
Welcome to life in the Big Apple. And Los Angeles. And Chicago. Of course, residents in these cities also get access to world-renowned museums, seats at the games of the winningest sports teams, well-kept parks and cutting-edge restaurants. But, it's
possible to enjoy such amenities without the hassles. Step one? Look for more affordable spots that offer a similar or better quality of life, and where the dollar goes far. First among them...
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Ten eating habits to avoid
You've probably heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But did you know it also tends to be our most habitual?
Many eat breakfast--typically a heavily time-constrained meal--in the same place every day, and as a result, make the same kinds of nutritional choices.
For some, that's a bowl of cereal and fruit, while for others, it's a glazed doughnut.
In moderation, doughnuts are fine. Everyday? Not so much. But bad habits like this are hard to break. Whether you started eating poorly because of your hectic schedule, as a way to deal with stress or if you grew up on fast food, the
impulse becomes ingrained over time. Changing these behavioral patterns also takes time, as well as motivation and patience, says Jenny Lindsey, a registered
dietitian at Virginia Tech...
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Top Brain Boosters
Wrinkles, gray hair, age spots. There are lots of downsides to aging. Losing the mind, though, tops the list of many.
But fear not. Just as research has demonstrated how important physical exercise is to aging well, experts now say there are things we can do to reduce our risk of mental decline, or even reverse it. It's called the mental workout, and as baby boomers search for more ways to enjoy their longevity, interest in it is beginning to explode...
Read the article. Back to top
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No Satisfaction at Toyota
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Without any fanfare at all, Toyota is confounding, if not defying, conventional wisdom about the current state of the U.S. economy. |
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| In the Works - Toyota's Georgetown, Kentucky, assembly plant is its largest outside of Japan. It makes a half-million cars a year--one every 27 seconds. |
- Toyota's sales gain in 2005 from three years before: 34%
- Its profit per car: $1,587
- Share of cars it sells in North america that are made here: 60%
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What drives Toyota? The presumption of imperfection--and a distinctly American refusal to accept it.
Deep inside Toyota's (NYSE:TM) car factory in Georgetown, Kentucky, is the paint shop, where naked steel car bodies arrive to receive layers of coatings and colors
before returning to the assembly line to have their interiors and engines installed. Every day, 2,000 Camrys, Avalons, and Solaras glide in to be painted one of a
dozen colors by carefully programmed robots. Georgetown's paint shop is vast and crowded, but in two places there are wide areas of open concrete floor, each the
size of a basketball court. The story of how that floor space came to be cleared--tons of equipment dismantled and removed--is really the story of how Toyota has reshaped
the U.S. car market. It's the story of Toyota's genius: an insatiable competitiveness that would seem un-American were it not for all the Americans making it happen.
Toyota's competitiveness is quiet, internal, self-critical. It is rooted in
an institutional obsession with improvement that Toyota manages to instill in each one of its workers, a pervasive lack of complacency with whatever was
accomplished yesterday. The result is a startling contrast to the car business.
At a time when the traditional Big Three are struggling, Toyota is thriving.
Just this year, Ford (NYSE:F) and GM (NYSE:GM) have terminated 46,000 North American employees. Together, they have announced the closing of 26 North American factories
over the next five years. Toyota has never closed a North American factory; it will
open a new one in Texas this fall and another in Ontario in 2008. Detroit isn't being bested by imports: 60% of the cars Toyota sells in North America are made here...
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Do Your Employees Qualify For Overtime?
The answer may surprise you.
She's well compensated. He's a manager. They're all on salary. These are some of the common reasons employers give to explain why they do not pay their employees overtime.
But in many cases these reasons are not legally valid. That's something business owners have been learning the hard way. Indeed, the number of overtime lawsuits has exploded over the past couple of years. In 2005, class-action suits involving wages
surpassed discrimination cases as the most widespread work force class action, according to a recent study by Chicago law firm Seyfarth Shaw...
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How to look like a workaholic
In a perfect world, we would be judged solely on our results—regardless of what others thought about how or when we got our work done.
But the good news is that this type of "results only" mentality is catching on. Some companies and managers are beginning to realize better ways to manage performance than by counting hours at the office. Organizations are responding to the changing
needs of workers everywhere by offering arrangements such as flex-time and telecommuting. The bad news is corporate mentality is what it is—like it or not. The 40-hour week is not just an expectation; it's the minimum, especially for salaried
professionals. Self-proclaimed workaholics advertise their twelve hour days like a badge of honor and wouldn't be caught dead leaving the office before 6:30. Just because it's the norm doesn't make it right. Ready to take a stand? You don't have
to defy your boss and coworkers in a dramatic five o'clock showdown. Here are some practical ideas that can help you on your way to regaining control over your time...
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