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Few events disrupt organizations, large or small, more than a change in leadership. Some degree of confusion is inevitable. It is the message a leader sends in a given moment and the experiences surrounding it that determine how severe the disruption will be. But too often, organizations are carefully controlled by familiar orthodoxies, polished, over-edited statements stripped of details that rational stakeholders would want to know, leaving them stiff and empty. That strategy itself is certain to fail. What follows the statement is often much more important. The tone, honesty, and clarity of subsequent communications will determine whether employees, franchisees,…

The aggressive adoption of AI will unlock incredible productivity and efficiency. However, recent news about Anthropic's new Claude model (which has successfully “escaped” from its sandboxed test environment) proves that agent powers are extremely difficult to manage, predict, and understand. As a result, organizations need to think more holistically about the appropriate controls, oversight mechanisms and governance that both companies and boards should have in place. We must recognize so-called “human error” when a sophisticated, skilled, leading model company like Anthropic proves a risk to us. Of course, we know this from our experience with cybersecurity and the endless phishing…

Most boards today look strong on paper. Independent Directors. A well-constituted committee. Formal risk monitoring. Annual evaluation. Clear charter and disclosure discipline. But many directors privately acknowledge quieter concerns. Although the board appears to be compliant, it is not necessarily decisive. Directors are proactive, but not always ahead of the curve.They may be united, but they are not always courageous. The gap between structural and effective governance is widening. Most boards are structured. Very few are intentionally designed. The immaturity of governance is first manifested in actions. Similarly, governance maturity shows up in real-time boardroom actions long before it shows…

A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that three out of four companies are now using artificial intelligence to improve productivity, but most companies report no positive effects. A small number of companies, such as Klarna and Duolingo, have famously reversed course by replacing customer service staff with bots, only to rehire them due to customer backlash. But for most senior executives, a second wave of big spending on AI is one of their top corporate priorities in the coming years. Over the past decade, U.S. companies have invested a total of $471 billion in artificial…

What is a unique way to combine physical activity and video games? Create replayable, high-tech, immersive game rooms where players compete in physical and mental challenges. The concept quickly spread across regions. That's what Adam and Megan Schmidt did when they founded Activate Games, a new kind of experiential entertainment venue where patrons can immerse themselves in “real-life video games.” Founded in 2017 with a single location in Winnipeg, Canada, Activate Games was named the fastest growing leisure and entertainment brand by the U.S. government. financial timeshas more than 50 locations in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Singapore,…

After the quarter ends, many boards follow a familiar script of reviewing numbers, explaining variances, and answering questions. Despite this, many directors say they take surprisingly little time discussing the future. This is a strategic shortcoming that most CEOs underestimate. Quarterly meetings naturally focus on oversight, including reviewing performance, ensuring compliance, and addressing immediate issues. These responsibilities are important to the board's fiduciary and oversight role. When the agenda stops there, boards contribute far less strategic value than they should and ignore considerations for the organization's sustainability. An effective CEO-board partnership is about more than just governance. That way, your…

Carolyn Dewar is a senior partner at McKinsey and founder of the firm's CEO Excellence practice, where she spent 20 years counseling Fortune 100 CEOs. She has seen a lot and heard a lot (both good and bad) along the way. But what she hadn't seen, even though many of her clients had asked for it, was a handbook to guide her through all the difficult parts of a CEO's job. There, she wrote a book with colleagues Scott Keller, Kurt Strovink, and Vikram Malhotra. agenda CEO for All Seasons: Mastering the Leadership Cycle (Scribner) distilled research from 83 high-performing…

As AI-powered operations evolve, so too must corporate governance. This is a big concern for Ken Washington, i-GENTIC's chairman of the board. The Palo Alto, California-based company focuses on agent-based governance across data, privacy, cybersecurity, and AI-assisted operations. Mr. Washington previously led consumer robotics at Amazon, oversaw research and advanced engineering programs at Ford, and most recently served as senior vice president and chief technology officer at Medtronic, the world's largest publicly traded medical technology company. He spoke to CFO Leadership about the interplay between technology and governance, a board's perspective on the tools an organization chooses, and why companies…

In the graveyard of all potential reputations in American business, it had to be number one next to Apple's Steve Jobs. Nevertheless, Tim Cook, who announced this week that he would step down as Apple's CEO, took the position and made the post his own. Relying on unique skills and abilities that were completely different from those of Mr. Jobs, he built unprecedented value within the company, whose market capitalization now exceeds $4 trillion, just a few years after first exceeding $1 trillion. The word masterclass has been thrown around a lot lately (and we're just as guilty of that…

Victoria Thomas became CFO and co-owner of Kellymoss from a rather non-traditional background: becoming an emancipated minor at 17 in order to leave her small farm town, eventually becoming a self-made entrepreneur and now leading finance for North America’s most decorated Porsche racing team. In conversation with host Jack McCullough, she shares her career journey, and how she transformed a nine-employee operation into an 88,000-square-foot powerhouse boasting 135 employees and 48 national championships and redefined success. Thomas also shares her candid insights on the power of “failure,” the art of the unconventional and how she leveraged her unique path to…