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    Feltex: A lemon with the juice squeezed out?

    Governance Leadership Management Performance
    Feltex Carpets, once a great New Zealand business went public a decade ago, in May 2004. However, the business was mismanaged and it went bust within two years. The $185m case against the board, brought by a former shareholder, is now before the High Court in Wellington. The primary defendant is the board (actually, the directors). The second and third defendants are Credit Suisse Private Equity (promoter of the sale) and Credit Suite First Boston Asian Merchant Partners (CSPE parent).

    During submissions yesterday it was revealed that the company was likened to a lemon from which most of the goodness had been squeezed out. Further, one director referred to "these lousy shares" in an email several months before the company's IPO. These startling revelations place the defendants is a rather awkward position. How material will these pieces of evidence be to the overall case?

    The case, which is expected to last nine weeks, is being watched closely by company directors, the IoD and many others, for it will more than likely set a precedent against which future cases of mismanagement and poor governance are measured.
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    ICMLG'14: programme published

    Conferences
    The final version of the ICMLG programme is now available on the conference website. This year, over 40 peer-reviewed papers will be presented on March 20–21, on the wide range of topics below. If you are interested in a particular session or paper, please let me know. I will do my best to attend that session and report back.
    • Leadership and leaders
    • Leading strategy execution
    • The regulation and enforcement of governance across multiple jurisdictions
    • Management relationships
    • Corporate governance
    • Business level strategy and sustainability
    • Trends in corporate competitiveness
    • Leadership and entrepreneurship
    • Leadership behaviours across cultures
    • Teams and IT management
    • Leadership education
    • Takeovers, supply chain and procurement

    In addition to the paper presentations, there will be a welcome reception; two keynote speakers; PhD and Masters colloquia; a visit to the MIT Cambridge Innovation Center; and, a conference dinner (of course!). Delegates are in for a busy two days.
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    On entrepreneurial thought and action: getting the low down

    Conferences Governance Leadership Management Performance Research
    Delegates at the International Conference on Management Leadership and Governance are in for a treat next week. Dr Leonard Schlesinger, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard and leading company director (including Forbes and Demandware), is the keynote speaker on Fri March 21. He'll be talking about the entrepreneurial thought process and the conversion of thinking into action.

    Dr Schlesinger is highly regarded in the business and academic communities, and I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say. I'll post a summary of his talk here, as part of my commitment to provide reflections and comments throughout the ICMLG'14 conference, for the benefit of those that can't attend.
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    ICMLG'14: just around the corner

    Conferences Governance Leadership Management Phd Research
    The International Conference on Management Leadership and Governance (ICMLG) is only a week away. This year, the conference is being held at Babson College, just outside Boston. The programme looks really interesting. I'll post reflections and comments here during the conference, so please check back if you are interested.

    I leave home on Mon 17 on the Air New Zealand evening flight to San Francisco, to meet a United flight across to Boston. The conference dates are 20–21 March, so I will have some time beforehand to reacquaint myself with a city that I last visited 20 years ago, and to attend meetings with some highly regarded governance advisors who are based in Boston. My paper will be presented on the first day of the conference, and I will chair a session the second morning.

    Immediately after the conference, I fly out to northern Minnesota, to visit the family I lived with as an exchange student 35 years ago. It'll be my first trip back since 1990, and possibly the last time I see my now elderly host parents. While the schedule is tight, I am looking forward to this trip very much. I'll keep you informed.
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    Do unto others as you would want done to you...

    Conferences Governance
    An email arrived from the convenors of the upcoming British Academy of Management conference a couple of days ago. It contained a request to review submissions from two different authors hoping to have their papers accepted onto the conference programme. The review process is a double-blind affair, meaning I don't know the author's identity and they don't know who reviewed their paper. My membership on the review panel is a consequence of submitting a paper myself. Submitters are asked to review other papers, which is fair enough.

    I printed both of the papers today (I review documents the old fashioned way—with a pen in hand). On first glance, one of the papers appears to be well-written and the other less so. As I skimmed through the less well written paper (ahead of a comprehensive review in the next week or so), my mind wandered towards thoughts of quality, acceptance threshold and the reputation of the conference. Superficially, the paper is marginal in terms of acceptability. When I read the paper thoroughly, I must form an opinion about the paper: should it be rejected or should it be accepted albeit with robust feedback? Without wishing to preempt the review process, my instinct suggests the provision of robust feedback is probably the better choice, because it creates a learning opportunity. It's simple really. My paper is going through the same process. How would I like to be treated? Some carefully crafted statements will probably be required, so that any biases I might have in terms of the topic, the way the paper has been written, or from my first impressions are kept in check. Fortunately, I have a couple of weeks to complete the review and decide how to respond. 
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    Learning to say 'no'

    Phd Time Management
    Image description
    I have just been asked to consider a nomination to become deputy chair of the New Zealand Vintage Car Club (Wellington Branch). I've been interested in old cars for as long as I can remember—particularly Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Triumph cars from the 1950s and 1960s. (In case you are wondering, the car in the picture is our current indulgence.) We joined the VCC a few years ago, to meet others with similar interests beyond the marques we are most interested in. Now this unexpected approach has come.

    While it's an honour to be asked to contribute to the leadership of an organisation, a most important consideration is whether one has the expertise and the time to do the job well. Sometimes the best response is to decline the invitation, despite the confidence others have in you, and the organisation and role being in one's sweet spot.

    The challenge for us all is to ensure that we make excellent contributions in whatever we take on. The VCC role includes two meetings a month (committee meeting plus monthly branch meeting) and attendance at various events. It would be fun, but it would also be a diversion. In my case, the priority for the year is to complete the doctorate. Other important contributory tasks include writing and presenting papers at international conferences, facilitating professional development courses for the IoD, a tiny amount of consulting and keeping (somewhat) fit. Something would have to go if I took on the VCC role, but it can't be anything on my priority list, thus my decision. Do you face similar dilemmas?