The euphemism about Too Big to Fail, the idea that some financial institutions are too consequential to succumb to market forces, that their collapse would spark an economic catastrophe and a ruinous state of unrivaled panic, is now part of our lexicon. But there is a corollary to this phenomenon, one I call Too Stubborn to Listen. For those organizations ...

As I like to remind readers, and as I have done so here and here, effective communications must be a priority for every executive. And yet, there is a tendency to associate articulateness – never mind eloquence and the mellifluous construction of sentences, which stand as grand edifices of rhetorical power – with slickness, or as some throwaway piece of ...

One of the recurrent themes I address in this venue, as both a business leader and as someone who specializes in investor relations (IR), is the necessity of eliminating the gap between perception and reality, reconciling the public’s perspective about an issue and contrary evidence about the very same topic of discussion. Where there is a discrepancy between the two, ...

Executive leadership is not, as I remind my colleagues and friends, the exclusive domain of one city, country or currency. Indeed, an effective CEO has a global perspective with an appreciation for the economic events beyond the Americas: He or she values diversification, and understands that Asia – in all its dynamism, innovation, financial and political influence, and international significance ...

Communicating complex matters of finance, investing, portfolio analysis and debt is an exercise in education: Everything hinges on the ability of an organization to convey all manner of issues within the securities industry – compliance, regulatory guidelines, initial public offerings, disclosure agreements and transparency in general – with maximum clarity. This concept of the fund-manager-as-teacher is a critical assignment, particularly ...