Talent, Strategy, Risk

Long-term value creation - the board's new agenda.

A big shift in public ownership has created a new set of challenges for boards. Much of the $14 trillion of assets that firms like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street manage is now held in index funds, creating a huge class of permanent institutional investors who own almost 60 percent of the Fortune 500. These investors are stating in no uncertain terms that simply managing for short-term shareholder profit is not acceptable.

Talent, Strategy, Risk by Bill McNabb, Ram Charan, and Dennis Carey explores these changes, drawing from their experiences with the investment community, corporate boards, and top-level management teams. The authors argue that, since TSR (total shareholder return) cannot balance short and long-term perspectives, boards should focus on a different kind of TSR—talent, strategy, and risk. Decisions and actions around these factors, more than any others, determine whether or not a company creates long-term value. This book redefines the board's agenda and explains how to:

• Build and incentivise the right leadership team
• Help leaders take a longer view and communicate it to investors
• Refresh board composition and create diversity to meet the new challenges
• Keep major risks, such as cyberattacks and sexual harassment allegations, front and centre
• Analyse the business through the eyes of a shareholder activist

With the new realities of corporate ownership, boards need to lead for the long term. This authoritative book shows them how.