Saving American Democracy in the Age of Citizens United, that’s the subtitle of a new book by Robert A.G. Monks entitled The Emperor’s Nightmare. The subtitle speaks to the book’s forward thrust. The title puts that in the context of a long journey in corporate governance by Monks. The cover of Power and Accountability in 1991 […]
Charles Schwab chronicles the history of his namesake firm in Invested: Changing Forever the Way Americans Invest. I knew he led a technological revolution and was among the first to slash prices. From A Nation of Small Shareholders, I also knew Schwab was on a long-term mission to have every American share in our growing […]
I continue my review of The Handbook of Board Governance: A Comprehensive Guide for Public, Private, and Not-for-Profit Board Member. With the current post, I provide comments on Part 4 of the book, The Rise of Shareholder Accountability. As a shareholder advocate, this is my favorite part of The Handbook of Board Governance. See prior introductory comments and those on Part 1, Part 2 and […]
When I agreed to contribute a chapter to Richard Leblanc’s book, I knew he was an excellent speaker, blogger and teacher. I also suspected he was a good promoter. How else could he attract over 23,000 members to his Linkedin group, Boards & Advisors? But, I never dreamed I’d see The Handbook of Board Governance: A Comprehensive Guide […]
Robert A.G. Monks, concerned with shameful corporate behavior today blogged When a Child Rules the Parent: The Problem of Corporate Domicile in a Global World. Corporations are creatures of the state but the social contracts that made them attractive in serving human interests are breaking down… Either we need to reign corporate operations in within […]
(Guest Post by Robert A.G. Monks) Let me tell you about something I read recently called Who Cares? Corporate Governance in Today’s Equity Markets (OECD Work Paper #8) by Mats Isaksson and Serdar Celik. Mats has been a major figure in the corporate governance movement for many years and is one of the key people in […]
Citizens DisUnited: Passive Investors, Drone CEOs, and the Corporate Capture of the American Dream both delights and informs as only Robert A.G. Monks can. No one else writes so well about topics like “How CEOs and the Business Roundtable Hijacked the World’s Greatest Wealth Machine” and those in the current volume because no one else has been as engaged […]
Steve Waygood, of Aviva Investors, which owns 2% of UK equities, explains why fund managers still prefer to walk away, rather than trying to change a company culture. Wagood defines sustainability to include how mega-trends influence the firm. Retail investors doesn’t really understand what is being (more…)
Investment News reports that California CalPERS, the second biggest U.S. public pension fund, is weighing the idea of taking its massive $255 billion assets under management and moving to an all-passive portfolio. Should we care? Well, it would matter a lot for active managers who receive management fees from CalPERS, Josh Brown, who runs the popular financial […]
2012 saw shareholders voting down pay deals, Apple pulled up on labour conditions & execs at Starbucks & Amazon grilled over UK tax avoidance. Lucy Marcus rounds up the year in boards. (more…)
Recently, ICGN held their annual conference in Paris. From the Twitter feed, it appears I missed a good one. (see ICGN Via Twitter) I’ve already mentioned Jon Lukomnik’s appeal to look again at the idea that shareowners’ interests and executives’ can be aligned through compensation strategies. I think one origin of our errors was revising the […]
The DC Court opinion on the SEC proxy rules, “tells you more about the Court than it does the issue or (more…)
Robert A. G. Monks is asking some fundamental questions on his blog and, at least so far, is responding to comments. That’s a rare phenomenon in the blogosphere. I urge readers to get involved in this dialogue (The Appearance of Reality: Shareholders & Ownership): The process by which directors are chosen is described as an […]
Robert A.G. Monks has a new site and blog. It looks great. Read his Response to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Report: Part 1. Monks once again identifies owners as the appropriate party to monitor corporate management. He notes that Greenspan was not only mistaken in his belief that corporations will preserve and enhance their own value, but […]