Here's a governance test question to pose to your board: When should you start a CEO succession plan? Correct answer: The day a new CEO takes office. The point, of course, is that it's never too soon to start planning for a leadership transition. As dramatic as that may sound, it's...

You can't plan for major crises, like a family member's cancer diagnosis, a personal lawsuit, or your fianc? calling off the wedding, but there are steps you can take to help ease the coping process when crisis hits. How a person handles crisis largely depends on his or her personality. We see 3 personality types:...

Manufacturers that supply parts and services to the automotive industry have a new opportunity as more companies-both auto manufacturers and tech firms-get involved in the self-driving car business. And now a new venture announced last week is poised to rev up the need for help. The latest announcement...

For the fourth consecutive year, reshoring of manufacturing operations to the United States in 2015 failed to keep up with continued offshoring of factory output. In fact, an index compiled by A.T. Kearney showed the largest year-over-year decrease in reshoring-vs.-offshoring in the last 10 years. As 2016 dawns,...

Boardrooms are facing great unpredictability and a breakdown of business models in their industries, which changes the role of directors today. We need directors who are synthesizers of information-who can see the smoke over the horizon and bring this insight into their companies. At WCD's fall Americas Institute held at...

From looking at how you build your products and services to how you communicate with customers and potential employees, the follow 10 trends-from Ford in-house futurist Sheryl Connelly's latest annual report-will affect how you engage both with your customers and your employees...

The end does not justify the means. In fact, sloppy ethics set the wrong corporate tone, risk the corporation's reputation and value and may be the loud, memorable endnote to an otherwise stellar career. Some companies continue to flaunt the line between ethics and legality. Take the case of...

As a CEO, you have a multitude of responsibilities on your plate. Corporate productivity, financial performance, strategic direction, to name just a few. Is instilling a culture of trust on your plate as well? Studies suggest...

Sometimes, CEOs just need to get away from it all-take a real break from the meetings, decisions, annoyances and confrontations that it takes to run a company. They benefit by ending up refreshed and thinking more clearly. Whether it's for five minutes or two weeks,...

The very purpose of innovation is to change things up, to move processes forward, and to disrupt the status quo. However, "innovation for the sake of innovation" is a misuse of a very powerful and beneficial tool. Innovation is more than generating the next big idea-it involves