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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
It is very difficult to train, audition or prepare for the role of chairman. Tony Featherstone provides tips on how aspiring chairmen can design a path to the busiest boardroom job.
Some directors were born to lead boards. Bill d’Apice, a lawyer, has chaired more than a dozen in a distin...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Louise Pocock provides some tips on how a board can help management strike a balance between short-, medium- and long-term horizons.
An effective board will generally adopt strategies that manage and strike a balance between short-, medium- and long-term horizons. That is, it will pay att...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Fiona Baron discovers that serving on a professional services firm’s board is all about leading by consensus and influence, rather than relying on authority or positional power.
Professional services firms are overwhelmingly about partnerships – partnerships of highly specialised individ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Mar 2013
When is it time for an underperforming CEO to go and how should the board handle the termination? Tony Featherstone investigates.
Only one board job is harder than hiring the right CEO: firing your most important executive. Persevering too long with the wrong CEO inevitably sees the board...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Feb 2013
Karen Barker provides some tips on how to recognise the signs of burnout and to help yourself or others overcome it.
Almost 25 per cent of executives and many directors are experiencing burnout – some without even realising it. What’s more, the more senior the sufferers are, the less like...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Feb 2013
Having been involved in the restructuring of the then troubled Centro property group, Susan Oliver suggests some ways in which directors can improve the success rate of their decision-making and value they contribute in the boardroom.
In November 2012, the Australian Securities and Invest...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Dec 2012
Pru Bennett lists five ways in which she’d like to see the bedrocks of corporate governance improved in 2013.
Proxy season is always an intensive period for everyone involved. BlackRock, for instance, votes at around 250 listed company meetings between September and December. We have exte...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Dec 2012
Michael Robinson forecasts how director and executive pay will move next year and provides a “to do” list to help remuneration committees steer their way through 2013.
Director pay in 2013
Unlike executive pay, the rate of pay increase for non-executive directors (NEDs) is expected to...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Nov 2012
Organisations cannot just shrink themselves to success. As Greg Hyde argues, short-term attempts to cut costs can heighten risks and can be much like squeezing a balloon and expecting it to get smaller.
Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap, the corporate cowboy of the 1990s, was one of those infamous CE...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Nov 2012
John H C Colvin explains how Company Directors is responding to the increasing stakeholder expectations of directors and how membership requirements are changing.
Our members who follow the news will no doubt agree that individual directors and boards are in the spotlight more than ever b...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Nov 2012
Tony Featherstone examines the many hurdles faced by mining boards and provides some tips on how directors can overcome them.
Spare a thought for Australia’s resource sector. It faces a perfect storm of falling commodity prices, rising costs, new federal and state government taxes and roy...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Oct 2012
Domini Stuart investigates the pros and cons of having a mentor and what you can expect from the relationship.
It seems Australian executives are well aware of the benefits of mentoring; the 600 surveyed for a recent report were generally enthusiastic, with some describing the experience ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Oct 2012
Tony Featherstone reviews a new survey that shows the standard of NFP governance, given the NFP sector’s constraints, is an untold good-news story.
When it comes to governance, the not-for-profit (NFP) sector suffers more from dangerous, ill-informed generalisations than any other. The sh...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Oct 2012
A new report reveals the corporate governance practices and board composition of listed companies.
Our new report, the ASX 200 Snapshot Report 2012, is due to be released this month on our website. The report examines corporate governance practices and compositions of listed companies, re...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Oct 2012
John H C Colvin discusses the many hats directors wear and the contribution they make across so many parts of our society.
When speaking at events, I often ask those in the audience how many directors they think there are in Australia. Estimates usually range from a couple of hundred up t...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Sep 2012
Tony Featherstone examines the pros and cons of giving a shareholder a seat around the boardroom table.
There is only one way to describe Gina Rinehart’s push for Fairfax Media board seats: brutal. Since March, Rinehart has emerged as Fairfax’s largest shareholder, demanded three board se...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Sep 2012
Domini Stuart believes managing stress effectively is a matter of good governance for directors.
Most directors have experienced the pressure of a senior executive role, but that does not mean they are automatically prepared for the pressures of the boardroom.
"Executives must be tota...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Sep 2012
Tony Featherstone warns that over the next 12-18 months, the directors of some junior miners could find themselves severely tested as they look to raise capital at a time when resource stocks may be out of favour and commodity prices are falling.
Australia’s resource sector has had a forg...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Sep 2012
A look at how the National Disability Services responded to change by providing a professional development scholarship program for NFP directors in the disability sector.
The Australian not-for-profit (NFP) sector is large, diverse and growing. The Productivity Commission estimated that t...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Aug 2012
As directors sit down to review their companies’ accounts this month, Domini Stuart examines how the Centro case may have changed boardroom behaviour.
Just over a year ago, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) hailed the Federal Court’s verdict against eight directo...