Word: stewardship
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That Fiorina, 50, lost a power struggle to her board is emblematic of a dramatic shift taking place in corporate America. With board members of companies from Disney to Enron getting hauled into court to answer for their stewardship, directors are becoming ever more emboldened to give poor- performing CEOs the boot. In fact, 92 CEOs departed in January, the highest number since February 2001, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement firm. "Boards are trying to demonstrate that they are doing their duty," says Warren Batts of the University of Chicago, former CEO and director of several FORTUNE...
...haven’t planning and operations already been integrated? Two reasons. First, inertia. Harvard is extremely decentralized, and changing this behemoth is tough. Lacking another motivation like environmental stewardship, little has changed. And second, the up-front costs. Economists now recognize that people often irrationally discount the future; the University behaves similarly, choosing small cost reductions now over large cost savings in the future. The sustainability principles are an attempt to behave rationally—for the University to incorporate into its planning “life-cycle costing,” which simply means considering all the discounted...
...mean for “win-win” scenarios? If the sustainability principles save Harvard money and go no further, then “responsibility” is meaningless. To maintain incentives to save money through reducing resource use while meeting Harvard’s obligation of environmental stewardship, one common-sense solution is to reinvest 50% of cost savings—which result from sustainability measures—into research on campus sustainability or environmental mitigation efforts, like the Kennedy School of Government’s use of 100% wind energy. This solution is still...
Nevertheless, the primary message of Harvard’s adoption of the sustainability principles is: To a degree far beyond what is currently actualized, environmental stewardship and cost-effectiveness are mutually reinforcing. There is still the question of those small up-front costs—which, surprisingly, tend to be not for materials but rather for sustainability research and planning, which cannot be fully funded through reinvestment of cost savings. We will need investments in rigorous research into innovative planning and design alternatives on everything from renewable energy to on-site water treatment...
RETIRING. MICHAEL EISNER, 62, CEO of the Walt Disney Co. for 20 years; when his contract expires in September 2006; in Los Angeles. Although he is credited with transforming Disney into a media powerhouse, investors have begun to question his stewardship as the company's stock price has fallen. The board of directors stripped him of his additional title of chairman after an unprecedented vote of no confidence at a March shareholders' meeting...