Ciaran Fenton Oct 5, 20183 minWhy every lawyer should listen to Prof Empson’s “Insecure Overachievers”In her BBC Radio 4 documentary, broadcast this week and available on BBC iPlayer, Prof Empson told us nothing new and everything new. We ...
Ciaran Fenton Jul 16, 20183 minThe FRC includes a crucial word in the new UK Corporate Governance CodeThe Financial Reporting Council (FRC) today published the new UK Corporate Governance Code to predictably mixed reviews. However, one ove...
Ciaran Fenton Jul 9, 20183 minHow truth and reconciliation processes can help boards, nations and familiesI briefly met Nelson Mandela and F W De Klerk at The World Economic Forum Africa Summit in Cape Town in 1994 when I was Commercial Direct...
Ciaran Fenton Jul 2, 20182 min Why lawyers and CXOs should listen to @rafaelbehr“It sounds dull, but backstage legal bores are our antidote to...bullshitters. They are the types we will need one day to clean up this m...
Ciaran Fenton Jun 16, 20183 minLegal services: how to escape the 'more for less' trap"All recipients of professional service...seem to be short of money...managers in business complain not only of shrinking budgets but als...
Ciaran Fenton Jun 11, 20183 minLawyers could save the world, mirabile dictu... Last week I facilitated a workshop involving over thirty in-house counsel from a large global corporate business. They were no different ...
Ciaran Fenton Jun 6, 20183 min Hay Festival: what boards can learn from Antony Beevor, Dambisa Moyo & Afua HirschRecently at the Hay Festival, I had the good fortune on the same day to attend three great talks by three impressive speakers and, during...
Ciaran Fenton May 30, 20184 minA business turnaround is more likely if its directors agree a shared purposeThis article was first published by Resolve Group UK in May 2018: A successful business turnaround is more likely if directors have a sha...
Ciaran Fenton May 18, 20184 minIf GCs waived their long-term incentive plans, would boards make better decisions?This article was first published by The Law Society In-House InsideOut Magazine on April 30th. 2018. If GCs waived their long-term incent...
Ciaran Fenton May 18, 20183 minThe Carillion Report: three behaviour lessons for boardsIt would be unwise for anyone to indulge in schadenfreude on reading the Joint BEIS & Work and Pensions Committees Report into the collap...
Ciaran Fenton May 18, 20181 minIs it time for Director Effectiveness Reviews?The picture above is a scan of some of my brainstorming doodles in the light of recent corporate traumas. I'm starting work with current ...
Ciaran Fenton Jan 31, 20182 minCan the FRC create a Phoenix from Carillion's ashes?Yesterday I attended a Roundtable on the Financial Reporting Council's proposed new governance code hosted by PWC, under Chatham House Ru...
Ciaran Fenton Jan 29, 20183 minThe Post: Why your board should watch it, altogetherAt the end of your next board meeting I recommend that you and your fellow board members should all go out to the cinema, watch The Post,...
Ciaran Fenton Jan 22, 20183 min Progressive boards: why not use the Jacinda Arden story to revolutionise "mat leave"?"Woman at work with a baby" should not be headline news. Work in the 21st Century must be about integrating home and work life in a manne...
Ciaran Fenton Jan 17, 20184 minCould a Devil's Advocate process prevent a Carillion situation in your business?It's easy to throw rocks at Carillion. As some of the reasons for its collapse are emerging, so are the grim implications for those immed...
Ciaran Fenton Jan 4, 20183 minWhy your board’s business strategy should include personal livesCan you think of a business strategy which does not include people? I wager you can’t because there isn’t one. Your board’s business stra...
Ciaran Fenton Jan 4, 20183 minDoes Mrs May’s Cabinet decision-making processes reflect a wider malaise in UK corporate governance?“The cabinet has not discussed, let alone agreed, precisely what kind of relationship with the EU the UK should be seeking” writes James ...
Ciaran Fenton Jan 4, 20187 minOrganisations don't have DNA, people do This is the text of a talk I gave at a workshop that I hosted at the IOD, London on 29 November 2017. A video of the talk is available he...
Ciaran Fenton Nov 27, 20173 minWhy boards should use HBR’s list of Best-Performing CEOs in the World 2017 with caution Harvard Business Review has recently published its annual Best-Performing CEOs in the World rankings. Pablo Isla, Martin Sorrell and Jens...
Ciaran Fenton Nov 27, 20173 minThree leadership lessons CEOs can learn from Gordon Brown’s autobiography, My Life, Our Times If you are a CEO or an aspiring leader wishing to improve your leadership skills, you will not waste time reading the recently published ...
