How John Paulson took home $10 million a day betting on a fall in home prices.
John Paulson was among the executives testifying on hedge fund regulation before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last November. From left, George Soros of Soros Fund Management, James Simons of Renaissance Technologies, Mr.
Paulson, Philip Falcone of Harbinger Capital Partners, and Kenneth Griffin of Citadel Investment.
It was the fall of 2007, financial markets were collapsing, and Wall Street firms were losing massive amounts of money, as if they were trying to give back a decade's worth of profits in a few brutal months. An investor named John Paulson somehow was scoring huge profits. His winnings were so enormous they seemed unreal, even
cartoonish. His firm, Paulson & Co., would make $15 billion in 2007. Mr. Paulson's personal cut would amount to nearly $4 billion, or more than $10 million a day...
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These eight famous pairings present a spectrum of the unique qualities and dynamic teamwork necessary for the effective management of innovative organizations. >>>
Sherlock Holmes had Dr. Watson and Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen. The rest was history, of course. And while many mammoth corporate success stories are often the vision of a single captain of industry—a Henry Ford, a J.P.Morgan, or a Larry Ellison—in a few instances they are the work of a tagteam of individuals who
complement each other’s strengths and may, just as importantly, sharpen each other’s instincts for distinguishing opportunities. Such is the case with the iconic business duos presented here. These eight famous pairings—one of them infamous for its failure in the final act—present a spectrum of the unique qualities and dynamic
teamwork necessary for the effective management of extremely innovative, complex organizations. A variety of top-tier combinations reveal several variations on the theme that two heads are better than one:...
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Directors should no longer accept “no worries” explanations on regulatory matters. Compliance tests should be employed routinely and if regulatory action does occur, management needs to take action."
A self-diagnostic to identify risk factors for poor governance and reporting.
Some of the best indicators of our overall physical health come from blood tests. Unfortunately, too often we don’t begin to watch and manage these numbers until later on in life. Of course, it’s never too late to improve your diet and exercise, but we’re always left thinking, “if only I’d paid attention to this earlier.”
With so many recent corporate crises, it is plain it’s suffice to say that a great many corporate board members and executives are experiencing similar regret right now. Perhaps this could have been avoided if they too had practiced routine diagnostic check ups. Like an individual blood test, board members need to know the
risks their company is facing, and as with any health risk, they also need to be able to mitigate those exposures. Sounds great, but the devils in the details, right? Perhaps not...
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Putting the next 12 months' priorities down on paper clarifies thoughts and drives alignment. Sit down and do it, says Anthony Tjan.
It is hard to believe but yes, 2009 is winding down. Thanksgiving is around the corner, the holiday rush is almost palpable, and before you know it we'll be watching our TV screens for the ball to drop in Times Square. It is about this time of year that many businesses begin to feel the pressure of making Q4 work, budget
planning for 2010 gets underway, and if there is any time left, to reflect on what this past year has meant. Each November or December, we sit down with each of our portfolio company CEOs and ask that they put down their top priorities for the upcoming year and lessons learned for the past year. We do this exercise in the form
of a CEO Memo to the Board. It's not complicated and certainly not overly detailed, but it sets the big picture and creates an incredibly powerful mechanism for alignment between boards and CEOs. [Here is our five-point plan on how we develop and use a CEO Memo to the Board in our companies:...]
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As the recession forces more older workers to postpone retirement, a major shift is under way in the makeup of the U.S. labor pool.
Calls for "Tennis, anyone?" are going unanswered. Foursomes on the fairways are few and far between. Retired Americans who thought they would be golfing or shopping with grandchildren are sharpening their tech skills, updating résumés, and scouring job boards instead. America's recent retirees are talented, innovative and
energetic—and millions of them have found that retirement just isn't for them. They're joined by millions more who have realized they can no longer afford to stay retired, following last year's stock market and housing crash. The AARP says that 8 out of 10 baby boomers will work part- or full-time past retirement age. That's 64
million unretiring Americans, the biggest demographic shift in the American workforce since WWII—and 93% of the growth in the American labor market from now until 2016, according to the Pew Research Center. Welcome to "Gen U"—Generation Unretired—America's newest, bona fide workforce segment. To sail through this sea
change in the labor pool, managers need to recognize the unique set of opportunities that Gen U presents...
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As the iPhone, BlackBerry, and other devices have become more popular, harmful software such as viruses and spyware is emerging to exploit their vulnerability.
Cheaters beware. In late October, Indonesian developer Sheran Gunasekera released mobile-phone software that can help someone eavesdrop on your conversations. A distrusting partner or spouse can secretly download the free application, called PhoneSnoop, onto your BlackBerry, remotely turn on the microphone, and listen to
conversations held in proximity to the device. PhoneSnoop, downloaded more than 2,000 times since its release, is one of a growing number of applications that can be downloaded onto a smartphone without a user's knowledge. FlexiSPY similarly can be downloaded onto Research In Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry or the Apple (AAPL)
iPhone. Smartphones and the growing number of people using them are becoming a bigger target for unauthorized and potentially harmful software, including worms, viruses, and spyware that tracks a user's Web activity. The smartphone security
threat "is imminent," says Jeff Wilson, a principal analyst at consultant Infonetics Research. Smartphones are increasingly...
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As an executive recruiter, I'm increasingly seeing an uptick in engagements to replace the head of sales.
That's no surprise, since the economy has taken its toll on sales organizations. Success can shield a litany of sins. But in leaner times, it takes a strong, tenacious, creative, and hard-working executive to successfully pull in and close deals. Replacing a key executive in good times is difficult enough. In a flattened
economy, it can get dicey because there is less margin for error. Many CEOs ponder the difficult decision of whether to sack a B or C player and roll the dice hoping to find an ace. They are not sure they can snag someone measurably better. They debate about keeping the incumbent in the company in a lesser role and carving up
the sales force to accommodate the shift. But if you know how to assess sales leadership, it doesn't have to be such a gut-wrenching decision. Following are a few guidelines for conducting a successful sales executive search...
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[From "20 Minutes to a Peak Performer" (McGraw-Hill) by Alan Vengel.]
1. Have a plan. Leaders who do best are the ones who take a few minutes at the outset to determine the purpose of the conversation, what questions they want to ask, and what results they expect.
Many of us put off giving feedback to our employees even though we intuitively know giving and getting honest feedback is essential, says Judith Lindenberger of The Lindenberger Group, LLC.
Maybe, she ventures, it is because there are so many ways to screw it up. The following, Lindenberger says, are the most common feedback mistakes:...
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Companies can take specific actions to generate cash, make competitive gains in an economic downturn, and position themselves more strongly for the upturn, say experts from The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Wharton School in a new video series.
The first two segments of the four-part series, titled Winning in a Downturn, Accelerating in the Upturn, are being released today by Knowledge@Wharton, the online publishing venture of the Wharton School. The final two segments will be released October 7. “Ambitious companies see the opportunities...
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With equity values stabilizing and debt markets returning to life, companies face a rare window of opportunity to do mergers and acquisitions that will reshape industries and create new leaders, says a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
For those with the financial wherewithal, current conditions offer a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” say...
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Long-Term Sustainability of Performance Is the Key to Success in Postcrisis Capital Markets, Says Report by The Boston Consulting Group.
Companies suffering a massive decline in stock market valuation in the wake of the global economic crisis should learn the lessons of an elite group of so-called sustainable value creators that have generated sizable and sustainable shareholder
returns over a decade, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In Searching for Sustainability: Value Creation in an Era of Diminished Expectations, the eleventh annual report in its Value Creators series, BCG identifies 25 companies with a market capitalization of at least $30 billion that have consistently outperformed their local stock-market average during the 10 years from 1999 through 2008. These include...
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Employees are often the best sources of ideas because they are closest to the daily details of the organization.
But too often, employees are sitting on great cost-saving, business-generating ideas because they’ve never been specifically asked. Don’t depend only on an open-door policy...
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Employers traditionally have used temporary employees when not seeking to hire permanent full-time employees.
In most situations, employers will work through a temporary employment agency to avoid placing an individual on payroll. The use of temp employees is usually driven by a corporate culture that does not wish to increase head count, even when additional resources are necessary to satisfy internal and/or client obligations.
Properly used, temporary employees can result in flexibility to employ individuals for short-term projects. However, employers frequently do not anticipate the true length of projects. Similarly, it is common to test an employee's skills through a temp agency and to hire them if they are determined to be a good worker. There is
nothing wrong with hiring a temp into a full-time position. However, employers must carefully consider the impact upon their...
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You may lose employees if you don't do it right.
I used to love this time of year: the holidays, the presents, the annual bonus. Ah, the anticipation. The renewal of hope, if not in mankind at least in my manager and the organization for which I toiled so hard all year. Not anymore. The season of bonuses has turned bleak. Outside of those Wall Street sharpies who ironically are being rewarded handsomely for taking the role of the Grinch to new heights, most of us still on the payroll will be happy with a lump of coal in our stocking--anything but the proverbial pink slip. Yet as grim as it may seem from the receiving end, those doing the giving, managers, face an equally joyless season. [The problem is that a lot of those good people, the ones working so hard to keep themselves and their organizations afloat, are seriously thinking about jumping ship when the times get better. They're thinking "it's got to be better over there…"--and there is about everywhere but here. How managers handle this bonus period may make that decision for their employees, and it will play a critical role in determining whether or not organizations still have their best talent when the good times return. So what should a manager do?...]
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They have what both they and you need to make it at the top.
The majority of business leaders I have worked with have a ravenous fascination with and curiosity about top-level sports. I have no doubt that most of them have secretly dreamed of being star athletes themselves. Whenever they find out about my involvement in the magical world of such people, they besiege me with questions.
How do their heroes cope with sometimes over-intrusive interest in their professional and private lives? What are those people like? [Elite sports is a powerful metaphor for business, and there are some striking parallels...]
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You probably get pretty aggravated when you spot an error on your company’s bank statement. But we bet whatever you found wasn’t this big.
True, sometimes there’s a major systems glitch behind the screw-ups; other times it’s as simple as human error causing these monumental mistakes:...
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the key to success in postcrisis capital markets
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Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice. We are committed to the proper use of
email and to protecting consumers from fraudulent or inappropriate
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