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Revolt in the Boardroom

7th May
2007
written by Dr. Leslie Gaines-Ross

The Wall Street Journal’s columnist Alan Murray has a new book titled Revolt in the Boardroom: The New Rules of Power in Corporate America. An excerpt ran in Saturday’s paper.

Murray talks about a new breed of CEOs emerging after the ousters of CEOs such as Carly Fiorina, Harry Stonecipher, Bob Nardelli and Hank Greenberg. He argues that these new CEOs focus on getting the job done and executing to perfection. In one example, Murray mentions how CEO James McNerney of Boeing fields his own questions at earnings calls. I was abit suprised when Murray mentioned this as an example of these down-to-earth, devil in the details CEOs. I did not realize that this was that unusual. Wonder if it ranks up there with CEOs eating in the cafeteria? I should hope both are more common.

Interestingly, this new class of CEOs is described as downright boring. However, with the continuing rise in CEO turnover rate, it seems that not all these CEOs could be such dullards. There must be some risk-takers and daredevils among this new executive class to keep those CEO revolving doors swung open.

Murray also argues that governance changes are transforming corporate America. This is probably how he choose his title. Murray cites two reasons for the boardroom revolution. One is the rise in boardroom meetings without the CEO present. Board members understandably find it easier to criticize a CEO’s performance when he/she is out of the room. Second, the court’s decisions in the Enron and WorldCom cases to hold board members financially liable for company misdeeds has led to greater board engagement. These boardroom changes benefit us all.

Since I read Murray’s columns regularly, seems like a good book to read. He certainly has the access and if the book is like his columns, his insights can only help understand this next generation of CEOs and boards.

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1 Comment

  1. Boyd Neil
    09/05/2007

    Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will add it to my reading list along with The Halo Effect (Rosenzweig) and Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger.

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