探花直播 of Cambridge - executive

A strange kind of intimacy: executive education in a pandemic and beyond

skbf2 — Tue, 18 May 2021 10:10:22 +0000

You don't have to get a place at Cambridge to study here. 探花直播探花直播 also provides executive education and lifelong learning to lots of different people in lots of different subjects. Moving all this activity online during a pandemic has been both tough and rewarding and has led to the development of a new range of online courses for professionals, Cambridge Advance Online.

探花直播intoxication of power

tdk25 — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 08:46:23 +0000

They say that pride comes before a fall, but in business, it also often triggers the collapse. History is littered with examples of corporate giants who were, according to subsequent post-mortems, felled by bad decision-making, brought on by excessive self-confidence, arrogance, and pride. In the final analysis, the word 鈥渉ubris鈥� crops up again and again.

Now board directors and senior managers from around the country are being invited to find out why. A conference in Cambridge this week will explore the perennial problem of hubris in leadership, and attempt to offer some tips designed to school the participants out of repeating others鈥� past mistakes.

Entitled 鈥� 探花直播Intoxication Of Power: Leadership and Hubris鈥�, the event will involve presentations from experts in business, management and academia, all of whom have examined what it is about leadership that distorts a person鈥檚 thinking and character, inflates their ego, and frequently causes them to make rash and damaging decisions as a result.

It will include analysis of the relationship between senior executives, and the mechanics of sycophancy in the workplace. There will also be a presentation of psychological research which suggests that humans may be hard-wired to make dubious decisions about the future, and that CEOs could learn a thing or two from crows, which are much better at forward planning.

In addition, there will be a workshop inviting the participants to contemplate and discuss the implications of hubris both for their companies and for themselves.

探花直播conference, on Thursday, 19 September, is being organised by Cambridge Judge Business School - part of the 探花直播 of Cambridge - and the Daedalus Trust. 探花直播latter is dedicated to the cause of trying to understand problems of hubris, and was set up 鈥渢o raise awareness and understanding of the changes in individuals, groups and whole organisations that can come with the exercise of power鈥�.

鈥淗ubris is not a mental disease - it is the result of psychological reactions to power and status to which we are all subject,鈥� Professor Christoph Loch, Director of Cambridge Judge Business School said.

鈥淚n healthy people, it serves to enable confidence and reduce stress, but in some, it creates a perception of oneself as a giant and others as minions. This distorts the individual鈥檚 sense of goals and decisions. It鈥檚 this effect that makes hubris a highly relevant risk-management issue for businesses.鈥�

探花直播decline of numerous companies has been attributed to moments when those responsible for leading the firm began to make poor judgements based on previous successes, with the result that they failed to respond to changes in the market and fell behind their rivals.

探花直播Cambridge event will attempt to show participants how to assess themselves and their colleagues to make sure that their own companies do not suffer from the same causes and effects. It will also examine how business leaders can harness the energies and passions of their staff, without at the same time allowing a culture of hubris to develop.

Speakers will include the former British Foreign Secretary, Lord David Owen, who has authored a book on 探花直播Hubris Syndrome; Martin Taylor, former chairman of Syngenta AG and former CEO of Barclays Bank; Professor Manfred Kets de Vries, an authority on leadership development; and Professor Nicola Clayton and Clive Wilkins, from the Department of Psychology at Cambridge.

De Vries argues that hubris starts to lead companies astray when senior executives stop recognising that many of their subordinates are lying to them - even if they don鈥檛 realise it. Most corporate leaders, he suggests, are surrounded by people who tell them what they want to hear. 探花直播danger occurs when they start to believe in this, and to enjoy it.

This breeds more than a sycophantic culture - in some cases, 鈥渋ntoxication and intimidation go hand in hand鈥�. 鈥淪ubordinates become intimidated by the power of office and leaders become the vessels of their projected fantasies,鈥� de Vries鈥� synopsis for the conference says. 探花直播accoutrements of this are things like 鈥渓arge, impressive offices, chauffeur-driven cars, private jets, fawning secretaries - all adding to a climate of awe that surrounds many leaders. Power leads to dependency reactions, and even physical illness in others. Many top executives don鈥檛 realise, however, the extent to which people project their fantasies on to them.鈥�

Nicola Clayton, Professor of Comparative Cognition, and Clive Wilkins, who is currently artist in residence, both in the Department of Psychology at Cambridge 探花直播, meanwhile offers an intriguing take on the relationship between hubris and the human brain鈥檚 capacity - or lack of it - to plan ahead. Their presentation will argue that our brains suffer from a natural short-sightedness about the projection of self in time, which makes envisaging the future rather difficult.

探花直播phenomenon is referred to as 鈥渢emporal myopia鈥�. 鈥淲e assume that what we feel as we imagine the future is what we will experience when we get there,鈥� Clayton and Wilkins explained. 鈥淚n fact, our sensations as we imagine it are often our response to what is happening right now.鈥�

If we want to find a way to get round this hard-wiring, the unlikely subject of crows might just offer some answers. Surprisingly, crows do not succumb to the same failings. Clayton and colleagues have studied how these birds hide food for the future, and her research shows that they can anticipate accurately what they will want when they come to recover it in the future.

In other words, crows appear to be more capable of disengaging from their present motivational state when choosing for what may lie ahead. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a skill that every CEO in the land ought to have,鈥� Clayton and Wilkins added.

探花直播Intoxication Of Power - Leadership And Hubris, will run at Judge Business School, Cambridge, on Thursday, 19 September, 2013. For further information, visit www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2013/the-intoxication-of-power-leadership-hubris.

For more information about this story, please contact Tom Kirk, Tel: +44 (0)1223 332300, thomas.kirk@admin.cam.ac.uk聽

Why are so many companies brought down by an excess of self-confidence, and rash decision-making by out-of-control egos at the top? A Cambridge conference aims to explain why power corrupts, and whether corporate leaders could learn a few lessons from the humble crow.

Hubris creates a perception of oneself as a giant and others as minions. This distorts the individual鈥檚 sense of goals and decisions.

Christoph Loch

01228 by Victor 1558 from Flickr

探花直播conference will examine the effects that the projected fantasies of subordinates have on managers when the latter begin to believe in them.

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探花直播crisis of shareholder primacy

bjb42 — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:44:21 +0000

How do we prevent another financial crisis? Since the devastation that began with the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market in 2007, a great deal of ink has been spilled trying to answer this question.

Unfortunately, most official accounts of the crisis, and how to avoid the next one, have missed the mark. They have overlooked the fundamental problem: a corporate governance model that the puts the private interest ahead of the public interest.

Financial institutions in most countries today are governed based on the theory of shareholder primacy. According this model, the institution鈥檚 management has one overriding duty: to maximize shareholder returns. True to its name, shareholder primacy puts shareholders in the driver鈥檚 seat; they get to choose the people who will run the financial institution for their benefit alone.

There are good reasons for supporting shareholder primacy. It is based on a healthy distrust of managers, who may be tempted to use the firm鈥檚 resources to pursue their own interests, rather than those of shareholders. Asking managers to balance the concerns of a number of different constituencies is just a license for them to abuse their power.

As a result, shareholder primacy tries to remove any ambiguity by making managers beholden to a single group 鈥� the firm鈥檚 shareholders. In addition to imposing legal obligations on directors and officers, today鈥檚 dominant corporate governance regime ties executive compensation to the share price. All of this is designed to align the interests of shareholders and managers.

In theory, this makes sense, but in practice it鈥檚 a recipe for crisis, specifically in the context of financial institutions. 探花直播business model of financial institutions is very different from that of an ordinary firm.

Basically, financial institutions profit from the 鈥渟pread鈥� between short- and long-term interest rates. In other words, they make money by lending at higher rates than they borrow. Thus, the best way for a bank to increase its profits is by increasing its 鈥渓everage鈥� 鈥� that is, by making as many loans as possible.

But the greater the bank鈥檚 leverage, the greater its risks. This is because if the bank鈥檚 debtors begin to default, or if there鈥檚 a perception that they might, the bank鈥檚 creditors (its depositors) will come running for their money all at once; hence the expression 鈥渂ank run鈥�. During a run, the 鈥渕ismatch鈥� between the bank鈥檚 assets and liabilities leaves it strapped for cash, and can ultimately lead to insolvency and failure. This is precisely what happened to the likes of Northern Rock just a few years ago.

What does all this have to do with shareholder primacy? Since shareholders are interested in maximizing profit, they will encourage the financial institution, through its managers, to increase leverage. Given the legal obligations and financial incentives facing mangers today, they will likely oblige. If they don鈥檛, the capital markets may see the firm as 鈥渦ndervalued鈥�, making it a target for a hostile takeover bid, which, if accepted, will result in the management team being replaced by a more shareholder-friendly one.

Therefore, in a world where shareholders rule, the pressure on managers to satisfy the thirst for leverage and profit is tremendous.

We have known for decades, thanks to economists like John Maynard Keynes and Hyman Minksky, that financial institutions鈥� propensity for risk-taking is a key driver of economic instability. In order to maximize profit, banks look to progressively riskier assets, putting their faith in so-called 鈥渇inancial innovations鈥�, which promise all the benefits of leverage without any of the risks.

For a time, rising asset prices validate bankers鈥� optimism, but eventually the bubble bursts, exposing it as nothing less than delusional. In the recent crisis, the innovations of choice were based on a method called securitisation, which in theory is supposed to distribute risk efficiently. In practice, however, securitisation turned out to be a 鈥渨eapon of mass destruction鈥�, as legendary American investor Warren Buffett put it.

探花直播methods were new this time, but the pattern of behaviour was anything but. In the last five decades, we have seen repeated crises of this kind, albeit not of this magnitude. So why don鈥檛 we learn from history? Why don鈥檛 we heed the warnings?

探花直播ideology of shareholder primacy has a lot to do with it. To begin with, during the boom, when shareholders are getting rich, the system makes it almost impossible for managers to buck the trend.

In addition, managers are not only expected to pursue shareholders鈥� economic interests, but their political ones as well. Not surprisingly, therefore, the financial industry is notorious for its lobbying activity. In the 1980s, the City of London pushed for the deregulation of the financial system. At the time, the reforms were dubbed the 鈥淏ig Bang鈥� due to the explosion in the capital markets that ensued; today the moniker is still appropriate, but for entirely different reasons鈥�

As a result, those who would leave shareholder primacy in place and put their faith in regulation to stop the next crisis are mistaken. They do not account for the financial industry鈥檚 political influence, which has been used to weaken regulation or 鈥渃apture鈥� those who enforce it. And they are overconfident about the ability of regulators, regardless of their resources and independence, to keep up with financial innovation, especially given the unprecedented complexity and global scale of today鈥檚 financial system.

While stricter regulation 鈥� particularly with respect to capital requirements 鈥� is crucial, such reforms risk being undermined by the perverse incentives of shareholder primacy. A situation in which the regulatory system is butting heads with the corporate governance system is incoherent and unlikely to promote economic stability in the long term.

A final problem with shareholder primacy is that it results in the wrong kinds of people being appointed to serve as directors and officers of financial institutions. 探花直播skills and temperament that maximize shareholder profits conflict with those that promote economic stability. As a result, shareholders prefer dealmakers to caretakers.

True, directors and officers of financial institutions must pass the Financial Services Authority鈥檚鈥渇it and proper鈥� test. But, as Lord Turner concluded in his review of financial regulation in the UK, these standards were poorly enforced in the years leading up to the crisis. This is because it was assumed 鈥� consistent with shareholder primacy 鈥� that financial institutions themselves were better placed to decide who should manage them. Not surprisingly, most bank executives didn鈥檛 understand the risks they were taking; some didn鈥檛 even have prior financial industry experience.

In order to prevent the next crisis, we need to do away with shareholder primacy for financial institutions, which are a special kind of company. We need a new corporate governance model that recognizes the essential role that financial institutions play in the wider economy and society. This means, at the very least, that their managers must have a legal duty to consider the public interest, and have the knowledge and temperament to discharge it accordingly.

If we want to prevent the next financial crisis, a new model of corporate governance is needed to replace shareholder primacy in financial institutions. Gates Scholar Mike Marin explains why.

In a world where shareholders rule, the pressure on managers to satisfy the thirst for leverage and profit is tremendous.

Mike Marin.

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