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Featured Governance, Leadership Article, How corporate China is evolving
How corporate China is evolving

July 2008

China’s business landscape is changing rapidly. So must the way we comprehend it.

Featured Governance, Leadership Article, survey climate change
Addressing consumer concerns about climate change

March 2008

Businesses must act on global warming and other issues to narrow a general trust gap between them and the public.

Featured Governance, Leadership Article, interview council foreign relations
A political education for business: An interview with the head of the Council on Foreign Relations

February 2008

Richard Haass says that businesses have much to learn from government as they compete in an increasingly complex global landscape.

The Archive

2007
Building a competitive finance function: An executive roundtable

December 2007

By focusing on talent development, new roles for finance, and creative benchmarks, CFOs can deliver a competitive advantage to their companies.

Assessing the impact of societal issues: A McKinsey Global Survey

November 2007

Executives place the environment and climate change in a class of their own when evaluating the impact of societal issues on shareholder value. They also indicate that companies are getting a little better at managing sociopolitical issues and understanding what the public wants.

Crafting a message that sticks: An interview with Chip Heath

November 2007

The key to effective communication: make it simple, make it concrete, and make it surprising.

CEOs on strategy and social issues

October 2007

Business leaders are now more inclined to incorporate society’s expectations into their core strategies but face many challenges when they do.

Exploring business's social contract: An interview with Daniel Yankelovich

May 2007

A founding father of public-opinion research explains why shareholder value isn't enough.

Investing in sustainability: An interview with Al Gore and David Blood

May 2007

The former vice president and his partner in an investment-management firm argue that sustainability investing is essential to creating long-term shareholder value.

The trust gap between consumers and corporations Premium Content

May 2007

Sixty-eight percent of executives say that large corporations make a generally or somewhat positive contribution to the public good. Yet only 48 percent of consumers agree.

What consumers expect from companies Premium Content

May 2007

Companies must gain a better understanding of consumer perceptions and expectations about corporate social responsibility if they are to win the public's trust.

Coaching innovation: An interview with Intuit's Bill Campbell

February 2007

A veteran Silicon Valley CEO and mentor of CEOs talks about his years in high tech.

Governing China's boards: An interview with John Thornton Premium Content

February 2007

The ex-president of Goldman Sachs talks about his experiences as a reformer of board governance in China.

The CEO's role in leading transformation

February 2007

The CEO helps a transformation succeed by communicating its significance, modeling the desired changes, building a strong top team, and getting personally involved.

The halo effect, and other managerial delusions

February 2007

Companies cannot achieve superior and lasting business performance simply by following a specific set of steps.

CEOs as public leaders: A McKinsey Survey Premium Content

January 2007

US business executives say they should play a much greater role in shaping debate about sociopolitical issues and leading efforts to effect change.

2006
Leading change: An interview with the CEO of Deere & Company

December 2006

Bob Lane details the steps his company took to engage the whole organization in an operational and cultural transformation.

Building the global bank: An interview with Jamie Dimon Premium Content

November 2006

The CEO of JP Morgan Chase discusses postmerger integration, risk, and leadership.

Creating value: The debate over public vs. private ownership Premium Content

October 2006

A panel of executives explores why private equity has been giving public ownership such a run for its money.

Who should—and shouldn't—run the family business Premium Content

August 2006

Family-owned companies run by eldest sons account for a good deal of the managerial-quality gap between the countries in a study.

"Soft" leadership in business

May 2006

To address business and sociopolitical issues, CEOs will have to draw on a different set of skills.

Recovering from crisis: An interview with the CEO of McKesson Premium Content

May 2006

John Hammergren discusses his strategy to revive a wounded company.

When social issues become strategic Premium Content

May 2006

Executives ignore sociopolitical debates at their own peril.

The misguided practice of earnings guidance Premium Content

March 2006

Companies provide earnings guidance with a variety of expectations—and most of them don't hold up.

Shaking up the labor movement: An interview with the head of the Service Employees International Union

February 2006

Andy Stern discusses his ideas for reversing the long decline of US organized labor.

The McKinsey Global Survey of Business Executives : Business and Society

January 2006

Executives say they face a host of worries about society's expectations of their companies, which can—and must—do better.

2005
Public-private partnerships as a development engine

September 2005

Business and government should be partners, not rivals—let alone enemies.

A guide for the CEO-elect

August 2005

The days, weeks, or months between taking the job and assuming power are precious. Put them to good use.

What is the business of business? Premium Content

August 2005

By building social issues into strategy, big companies can recast the debate about their role in society.

Leadership as the starting point of strategy Premium Content

February 2005

Even the best strategy can fail if a corporation doesn’t have a cadre of leaders with the right capabilities at the right levels of the organization.

2004
Splitting chairs: Should CEOs give up the chairman’s role?

November 2004

It takes two, says Jack Creighton, a veteran of many top executive jobs.

Asia's governance challenge Premium Content

May 2004

Corporate governance in Asia has improved, but implanting new forms of behavior will take time.

Chairman and CEO—one job or two?

May 2004

Trust in business is low. Reinforcing the independence of corporate boards by separating the positions of chairman and CEO could help rebuild it.

Corporations as global citizens

February 2004

Global corporations and the developing countries where they invest actually have symbiotic objectives.

2003
Numbers investors can trust

August 2003

What counts isn’t the bottom line but rather how it is calculated.

Organization: Helping people pull together Premium Content

June 2003

In even the largest and best-managed companies, hundreds of organizational muddles take place every day. Throughout the economy, they add up to a staggering waste of our national resources.

Company philosophy: ’The way we do things around here’

May 2003

Basic principles should be the underlying and overriding component of a company’s system of management.

2002
A case for the family-owned conglomerate Premium Content

November 2002

The president and CEO of the Philippines’ largest and most conservative family conglomerate expounds on the value of financial discipline, trust, and good governance in a volatile market.

Controversy Incorporated Premium Content

November 2002

Companies that address the social concerns surrounding contentious markets may well find the effort rewarding.

Time for CFOs to step up Premium Content

June 2002

As investors home in on business fundamentals and credible accounting, the CFO’s traditional oversight of planning and performance takes on new urgency.

1997
Developing leaders in a business Premium Content

November 1997

In his book The Will to Lead, Marvin Bower, McKinsey’s managing partner from 1950 to 1967, urges senior managers to abandon command-and-control structures and adopt a program to develop leaders, starting with themselves. In this excerpt, he explores the attributes of leadership.

1996
The trivialization of management Premium Content

November 1996

An excerpt from Management Redeemed: Debunking the fads that undermine our corporations.

1995
Leading from the front

August 1995

High-performing companies share six defining management characteristics. This discussion explores those traits and the companies that embody them.

Young lions, high priests, and old warriors Premium Content

May 1995

Most companies lack the leadership they need to fulfill their ambitions, but there are ways to quickly build a company's leadership capacity.

1994
Managing CEO transitions Premium Content

May 1994

A leader’s best chance to lock in new organizational norms is usually during the first few months on the job.

1993
Leading organizational transformations Premium Content

February 1993

The leader's role is to turn separate initiatives into a balanced, integrated program of change.

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