Economic Recession and Dennis Carey

Despite the fact that we all keep hearing how the country – and indeed the world – is undergoing a huge economic recession, things might not be as bad as they seem after all. According to a survey undertaken by Korn/Ferry International (where Dennis Carey is Senior Client Partner), it seems that investor relations officers haven’t been suffering at all, at least not in the fiscal department. This survey – conducted with the National Investor Relations Institute – found that the salaries of these employees “held steady between $126,000 and $150,000.”

Dennis Carey and Finances

Korn/Ferry International in which Dennis Carey is involved, is an extremely successful international company. Happily for those in the industry its findings showed that those employed in this area are not suffering as much as the public would have been led to believe. True, the survey did also find that bonuses were reduced and salaries did remain on an even keel (as opposed to enjoying an increase) but they didn’t decrease so that has to be a good thing. Nonetheless, still more than 40% of respondents who, “received an annual cash bonus of more than $100,000.” So it seems like businesses such as the ones Dennis Carey play an active part in might just be the way to go when it comes to remaining unaffected – or at least minimally affected – by the recession.

5 Key Business Practices According to Dennis Carey

Dennis Carey is an esteemed executive recruiter who has authored three books about best business practices and who helps companies with, among other things, their CEO succession plans. He offers 10 key tips to help companies create smooth transitions when one CEO leaves and another arrives. Here, we will touch on five of Dennis Carey’s 10 recommended tips.

Dennis Carey Key Practices

When undergoing a CEO succession, Dennis Carey urges companies to take the human drama out of the process as much as possible. Certainly, this entire process is very difficult on the number two people in the company, and the less drama that there is, the better off everyone in the company will be.

Business Advice with Dennis Carey

Tie some of the CEO’s compensation to succession planning and progress so that the current CEO will feel responsible for helping with the smooth transition. Pay your directors in stock and let them know that you expect them to make additional investments in the company’s shares.

Finally, the last two tips include calibrating the internal candidates together with the external ones and developing a culture within the company that encourages succession.

Carey Contributes to 'Merger and Acquisitions'

Published in April, 2001, Harvard Business Review on Mergers and Acquisitions is a book which will help managers think clearly about the consequences of merging their company so that they can make a truly educated decision about such a strategic business move. This is an important book today considering the modern trends toward merging companies, including buyouts and joint ventures. Keeping track in today’s world of who owns which company is difficult, but not as difficult as deciding if this is the right direction for a particular company. Luckily this book, which includes discussions from major experts in the world of business today, can help make this decision easier. Among the many informed discussions in this book are:

• Lessons from Master Acquirers: A CEO Roundtable on Making Mergers Succeed by Dennis Carey;

• The Fine Art of Friendly Acquisitions by Robert J. Aiello and Michael D. Watkins;

• Are You Paying Too Much for That Acquisition? by Robert G. Eccles, Kersten L. Lanes, and Thomas C. Wilson;

• Stock or Cash?: The Trade-Offs for Buyers and Sellers in Mergers and Acquisitions by Alfred Rappaport and Mark L. Sirower

Returning Chairmen Bring Experience and Success to Boardroom

Executives with years of experience behind them are to a greater and greater extent being recruited to help faltering companies get back on the road to success. This trend of bringing retired executive back up to the plate is continuing as the economy, and businesses, come out of crisis mode and begin the long climb to stability and success.

These older, but wiser executives are being used as “outside chairmen” to bring to the table their well-earned expertise to guiding companies out of the mud of financial instability into the clear waters of financial success.

As Dennis Carey, one of the key executive recruiters contributing to this trend puts it: "These chairmen are strategic equal partners of the CEO because they already demonstrated a successful 'in the trenches' style of management."

The new-old “outside chairmen” enter the picture by leading a board review of the company’s overall business strategy. In addition they evaluate the possibility of spinoffs and acquisitions, while simultaneously running the company in partnership with the CEO and also the business coach.

Since the idea is so successful it is not only utilized by struggling companies, but often companies that are doing just fine will bring in an outside chairman with years of experience in order to do even better. In the year 2004, for instance, only 14 former CEOs became chairmen of new companies, while today there are at least 46 ex-CEOs chairing different companies.

Corporate Structure Continued

The Board of Directors is elected by the shareholders, and is comprised of two types of representatives: insiders who have worked and still work for the company every day, as manager or other job like CEO or CFO. The second type of member of the board comes from the outside; chosen externally and independent of the company. In this way the board can monitor the performance of the managers of the corporation, making sure that the interests of the stockholders is protected.

Corporate Structure

Corporate structure evolved as a result of the growth of companies and their public nature. A public company is one whose ownership is shared among a large number of people who have purchased their power by investing in the company through the obtaining stocks. We have all heard of CEOs, CFOs, presidents and vice presidents, but what is their relationship to each other and to the company that they lead?

Briefly, a corporation is a company or business which has legal rights as an entity separate from its owners. The result of this status is that the liability of the owners is limited and shares are issued as easily transferable stock which allows shareholders certain controls of the company.
Due to the fact that the company is publicly owned a need is created for management and ownership to function separately. This is a two-tiered structure where the board of directors (or governors) is elected by the shareholders and oversees that the company is functioning with the welfare of the shareholders in mind. The second tier is the upper management, responsible for the successful functioning of the company. The upper management is hired by the Board of Directors.

Corporate Guidance from Dennis Carey

Dennis Carey recruits corporate leaders to fill the positions of CEO, Chairman of the Board, and Board members. He knows what it takes to bring a faltering company going through challenges up to the successful outcome they can achieve. Whether it is hard economic times or the natural event of executive corporate transitions, Dennis Carey will guide the company through it, helping to bring a positive resolution and outcome to the event.

Surviving in a Recession

Yes, this is a difficult time to run a business, but as so many recessions in the past have shown, crisis breeds opportunity. Both Carnegie Steel and Hewlett-Packard were created during long depressions.

In this type of environment when money is scarce and markets are volatile, it is not easy to keep morale up in many companies. As Dennis Carey, a senior partner at Korn/Ferry International explains, this is the time to reevaluate techniques that worked for your company during boom years. As he says, "You can't rely on a peacetime general to fight a war. The wartime CEO prepares for the worst so that his or her company can take market share away from players who haven't."

One key aspect of many businesses right now is to get the funds they need to help their businesses to grow. Only those businesses that can show strong balance sheets will stand a chance.

CEOs Taking Action - Quickly or Slowly?

When a new CEO comes into a company, the rest of the company can certainly anticipate that there will be many changes. The question, however, is how quickly those changes will occur. According to executive recruiter Dennis Carey, the depth and speed of those changes usually has a lot to do with the hiring circumstance of the CEO. If someone has been promoted from within, and they are working with a well-run company, they may greatly limit the turnover rate. If, however, a CEO has been brought in from elsewhere, and the company is failing, the executive changes will be quite fast and sweeping.

Dennis Carey continued to explain that under these later situations, the first jobs to turnover are usually the CFO, the general counsel, and the head of human resources.

Kevin Coyne, a management consultant and a professor at Emory University’s business school, said that CEOs typically decide on their strategy within the first 60 days. They will group the workers into four categories: those who will be invaluable; those they are keeping, but who aren’t exceptional; those they are keeping for now but will eventually fire; and those they are firing right now.

Publications from the G100

In addition to the vast array of benefits provided by the G100 to its 100 or so CEOs, they also receive regular publications. Founded in the year 2000 by executive recruiter Dennis Carey, the G100 is a forum that meets biannually to discuss business and to offer a location for CEOs to learn from each other.

As part of the membership, CEOs receive a monthly memo that includes important news and concerns for CEOs. They also have a publication called Insights that is produced twice a year and that summarizes their meetings and has original, previously unpublished articles by some of the G100 advisors.

One month prior to each meeting, the G100 also sends each member a briefing book featuring articles and interviews to prepare for each upcoming session.

Advisors to the G100

In addition to the camaraderie and knowledge gained by the members of the G100, a private group for CEOs started by Dennis Carey in the year 2000, they also have an advisory group. This small group includes top advisory firms whose top representatives come to their biannual meetings. They work closely with the CEOs at the meetings to enhance the overall discussion and to focus the agenda.

The advisory members help the CEOs to focus their discussion and to look at real, applicable and relevant issues as they unfold in the business world today. Current advisors to the G100 today include: Accenture; Deloitte & Touche USA; Goldman Sachs; McKinsey & Co.; Merrill Lynch; SSA & Company; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom; Spencer Stuart; The Parthenon Group; and Vedder Price.

G100 Makes a Difference

The G100 meetings, created by Dennis Carey, invite 100 of the most prominent CEOs to meet twice a year to discuss business topics off the record. A regular moderator of their meetings, Jack Welch, finds the G100 to be a unique opportunity where CEOs can exchange their best practices with their peer group.

He sees, after each session, that CEOs leave with fresh ideas that they can immediately implement. They also, Mr. Welch explains, receive a feeling of contentment that they’ve contributed to the discussion and offered their experience to others.

Set in New York City twice a year, these Thursday evening and Friday morning discussions offer a wealth of opportunities for CEOs today.

According to Dennis Carey Management and Boards Must Work Together

As the dust begins to settle after the several governmental regulatory reforms of recent years, corporations can begin to refocus their strategies from compliance with new legislation and begin to push forward into the brave new world of developing strategies to increase value for shareholders and innovation and growth.

According to Dennis Carey, executive recruiter and corporate strategy consultant, it would behoove corporations to link the human capital of the board of directors to the long-term strategy created by management. This is the direction Dennis Carey would like to see the next wave of governance reform, and he believes this is the path to increased value for shareholders.
Carey bemoans the fact that although boards may approve a particular strategy, they have little role in developing and shaping that strategy.

As Dennis Carey puts it,

“Now that innovation and growth increasingly drive the top executive's agenda and major business trends emerge in the blink of an eye, strategically minded boards that forge close partnerships with management will prove to be the crucial difference between companies that create superior shareholder value and those that don't.”

Carey Advises to Let Chairman/CEO Combo Remain

Dennis Carey is a prolific writer of books and articles that have appeared in numerous respected locations including, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The New York Times, and many more. Often Mr. Carey comments on current issues that affect the corporate world.

Recently, in May 2009, an article appeared in the Wall Street Journal in which Dennis Carey discusses the latest attempt in Washington to effect change in the corporate world and why this proposed legislation would be a mistake.

Dennis Carey clearly argues that the bill proposed by the Democratic Senator from New York which seeks to split the role of Chairman and CEO in public corporations "flies in the face common sense and proven results."

Siting the fact that over 60% of the largest American corporations have a combined position of Chairman/CEO and yet there is no observable difference between these companies' performance and those in which the CEO and Chairman roles are separated, Dennis Carey shows that changing this practice has not harmed American businesses. On the contrary. American companies seem to be doing quite well with this configuration of governance and management.

Good Financial News for 2010

Nearly two-thirds of the firms that froze salaries last year will begin offering their employees raises again in 2010, according to a new human resources report from Towers Perrin. While many companies cut out 401(k) matches last year, approximately one third of those companies plan to reinstate them this coming year.

Employees shouldn’t get too excited yet, however. Most of the companies that are reinstating these benefits are doing so slowly. 401(k) matches can be as high as 6% of the pay. Many companies, however, are going to see 401(k) matches that are half or less of what they used to be. Executive recruiters such as Dennis Carey hope that this will help with the recruiting process. FedEx, for instance, plans to give employees a match that is half of the earlier rate.

Other companies are actually moving to put employee achievements as the barometer for receiving salary increases, 401(k)s and more. Four out of every 10 employers say that in 2010 they plan to differentiate among employees during the salary review process. Some employees will end up getting raises and added benefits, based on performance, while others will not.

Choose a New CEO Now

According to Dennis C. Carey, author of CEO Succession, even at the very outset of the tenure of a new CEO, he should already be planning for his own replacement.

Although this might seem a misplaced priority among the many urgent tasks a new CEO must accomplish when taking over a company, Dennis Carey believes that because succession planning requires team-work and input from many sources, when it is accomplished at the beginning the new CEO’s term it can create a feeling of trust in the new CEO and a re-establishment of confidence in the company.

Carey continues to explain that even if the new CEO is not interested in planning for his own replacement, the board should make it a priority anyway. No one knows the future, and the sudden loss of a company’s CEO is always a possibility, even if it is a small one. In at least two prominent cases, the CEO of Tenneco and the CEO of Frontier, both died from a brain tumor. Although this was a rare and unforeseeable tragedy, having already have planned for the CEO’s replacement would have made the trauma less traumatic.

Sarbanes -Oxley Act Forces Boards to React

In 2002 the much lauded Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed by the United States Congress. Another name for this landmark legislation is “The Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act.” This longer title tells a lot about this law, named for its two sponsors, Paul Sarbanes, Democrat of Maryland and Michael G. Oxley, Republican of Ohio.

Considering that it was co-sponsored by members of both parties and won almost unanimous support in the Senate and House (99-0 and 423-3 respectively) it was a law whose time had come.
Dennis Carey has discussed in several places the need for corporations to comply and move forward in the aftermath of this far-reaching legislation. To quote President George W. Bush, who signed SOX into law on July 30, 2002, this law includes,

“the most far-reaching reforms of American business practices since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt.”