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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Jac Nasser, described as a chairman of chairmen, talks to Tony Featherstone about succession planning, leadership development, board composition and other governance matters at the world’s biggest mining company.
It is easy to judge boards only on big events: the CEO appointment, successi...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Tony Featherstone warns that companies that ignore the income needs of the rapidly growing self-managed superannuation fund sector do so at their peril.
Responding to the investment needs of an ageing population and the seemingly unstoppable rise of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Tony Featherstone believes the chairmen of Australia’s largest listed companies may have a good argument for pay increases in the next few years, depending on company performance, of course.
Many listed company boards showed restraint with fee rises after the global financial crisis (GFC)...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2013
Kathleen Conlon talks to Tony Featherstone about boardroom diversity, the risks of policy-on-the-run, strategy formation and how emerging directors can find their first board position.
A constant danger for boards is the potential for "groupthink" if directors agree too easily with the co...
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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
Unproductive board meetings waste busy directors’ and management’s time and shareholders’ money, and can lead to poor decision-making. Tony Featherstone explores how meetings can be made more effective.
What does a board meeting in your organisation cost and what is the return on that inv...
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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 Mar 2013
Dr Ken Henry talks to Tony Featherstone about Australia’s role in the Asian century, how our tax system should be reformed and life outside of the public service.
From high above Melbourne, Dr Ken Henry AC provides a glimpse of how great Australian business can become and a scale of natio...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Mar 2013
Tony Featherstone believes we should give listed companies greater confidence about when to disclose price-sensitive information to the market rather than looking for temporary solutions.
No one doubts the need for a well-informed share market and giving listed companies more flexibility ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Feb 2013
Green fingers or a red light? Tony Featherstone examines what formal boards of directors can offer fast-growing entrepreneurial start-up ventures.
Catcha Group co-founder Patrick Grove has one of the better email signatures around. The chairman and deputy chairman of two ASX-listed compan...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Feb 2013
Tony Featherstone believes better engagement between entrepreneurs and experienced company directors could help Australia’s start-up ventures grow in scale when they need to.
Surveys show Australian entrepreneurs rank highly in their ability to start ventures. The problem is scaling them ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Dec 2012
Tony Featherstone says directors of SMEs should plan for the worst and hope for the best as trading and economic conditions tighten.
A friend recently complained about the parlous state of his small manufacturing enterprise. The high Australian dollar is crunching export sales, costs are ...
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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 Nov 2012
Tony Featherstone advises directors of smaller companies to keep a watchful eye on the company’s debt position, loan covenants, the strength of its banking relationships and its prospects for refinance.
The biggest risk for many small companies is not deteriorating trading conditions, sta...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Nov 2012
Keith De Lacy talks to Tony Featherstone about the deteriorating relationship between government and business in Australia, life after politics and the joys and challenges of being a company director.
A full-time board career is an obvious, orderly, linear progression for many directors a...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Nov 2012
Do ex-politicians make good directors? Tony Featherstone discovers they could have much to offer, if only they would stop being politicians.
What ex-politicians can bring to the boardroom
The potential to lift the organisation’s profile and attract donations
An ability t...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Oct 2012
Diane Smith-Gander talks to Tony Featherstone about the challenges of setting up NBN Co from scratch and what the national broadband network means for Australia and its directors.
Many directors take years or decades to build a portfolio of directorships of large organisations. Some never...
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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
Tony Featherstone reports on a new tool, available later this year, that will bring more transparency and fairness to equity capital raisings.
A new tool from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) will help the boards of listed companies better meet their corporate governance obligatio...
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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...