July 10, 2023
Good morning! King George was kinda right, wasn’t he, when he said, “You’ll be back…”? Statistics: If you reach age 65 there is a 51% chance of reaching age 84. They test the 1950s-era civil defense system the first Wednesday of each month; radio, sirens, television, Etc.
Might be time for an upgrade to Ike’s technology… have you paid attention to the (non)functioning of this duct taped/ baler twined/ Rube Goldberg system?
- Pete Pinske kept my daughter and me supplied with fresh honey for the last quarter century.
- It was delicate, light-colored, delicious, and fragrant — made by Pete’s bees on the south shore of Lake Titlow, just to the east of a spectacular stand of more than 200 virgin white oaks — many of them more than 200 years old, and on the register of historic places.
- Pete was the kind of guy who had hundreds of best friends — and each felt that way because Pete made sure they felt that way.
- Pete died a few days ago at age 92 — and he left a grieving widow of 75 years if you count the years of their high school courtship when the romance began.
- She sometimes reads these Musings, and so, Arlene, if you do today, we all miss Pete, you surely most of all.
- But for just these few keystrokes, I’m hoping I might have been in second place — among his best friends.
- Better plan to spend significantly more for that double mocha three-squirts espresso frozen latte smoothie.
- Cacao (Cocoa) prices are soaring through the roof, fixin’ to almost double compared to 2018. (FactSet)
- They’ve been predicting this for a long time; too late now if you didn’t prepare.
- Counterintuitive? Eight of the nine justices of the United States Supreme Court voted with the majority at least 80% of the time during the Court’s recent term.
- Clarence Thomas voted with the majority the least often, 76% of the time.
- Justices Kavanaugh and Roberts voted with the majority 96% and 95% of the time respectively. (Empiricalscotus.com, 2023)
- Given that Tim Cook leads the nation’s first $3,000,000,000,000 company you would think he must be the highest paid CEO in the land, but…
- …think again. Tim makes barely one-third (at least last year — 2022) of Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman or Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai.
- Again, not to worry, they’re all three doing just fine. (C-Suite Comp, 2023)
- For those still rooting for a recession: “The labour market has continually surprised…” (Zhao, 2023)
- The labour market has gained 1,600,000 jobs during the first part of 2023.
- Most of those jobs have been in health care, social services, government, and construction.
- Construction spending — especially on manufacturing facilities — is up 76% over the same period last year.
- Much of this (Some of this?) is due to the post-plague government programs, and also the inflation situation, but up is up… maybe.
- Good? Bad? Neutral?
- At the moment we are at nearly $200,000,000,000 construction spending nationally per month. (Lahart/ U.S. Dep’t. of Commerce)
- Boards. You can’t live with ’em, you can’t live without ’em.
- Building and sustaining a high-functioning Board is as difficult — and as important — as sustainable, profitable operations are at the other end of the CEO spectrum of duties.
- Here, hot off the press, is a condensed version of a McKinsey interview with Tangen of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. (Lund, 2023)
- Resilience has to do with the “kind of grit you show and how you come through difficult periods and experiences.”
- Being resilient should help organizations to withstand shocks and come through difficult periods in an even stronger position.
- Resilient companies ideally benefit from difficult periods in terms of pulling away from competition.
- Advantages gained during these difficult periods are often sustainable over time and allow companies to pull away from the rest.
- … resilient organizations generally move fast, with a flexible cost structure and the ability to make decisions faster.
- Boards play an important role in asking the right questions… stress testing, for example.
- Boards can also ask for various scenario analyses, including a run-through of cost structures to better understand the implications of different events.
- Beyond this, different types of what if scenario analyses are critical to assess the operational robustness in case of a cyberattack.
- Boards should also be supportive of top management during difficult periods.
- Instead of just emphasizing cost-cutting, Boards should pressure test and, from time to time, encourage countercyclical investments.
- Individual Board members, and especially the Chair, can be a source of support for CEOs when they go through difficult times.
- Being CEO is a lonely job… They do need someone they can talk to, someone they can trust.
- You are there (as a Board) not only to ask the right questions, but also to look for signs of stress and burnout and provide early support to the CEO in need.
- As a CEO you must focus on processes, not just on results… if the processes are in place, the rest will follow.
- A Board composed of high-quality people from diverse backgrounds, including gender, is essential in today’s world.
- “Leaders shouldn’t focus on motivating their teams, they should instead lean into inspiring them.” (Eades)
- For discussion: What’s the difference?
- “Without memory there is no culture. Without memory there would be no civilization, no society, no future.” (Wiesel)
