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- Are your board members as valuable as you?
- Should board members be elected “for life?”
- Fight for balance on your board!
- Your need for a board grows with complexity.
- Your board should protect you!
- Hire a consultant; ignore the advice!
- How to cheat legally on your tax return.
- Do you really need an accountant?
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Category Archives: Protecting the business
Are your board members as valuable as you?
Perhaps this is the natural conclusion from the several insights previously explored. While the CEO and management offer the vision, strategies, and tactics as well as the proposed budget, it is the board that controls with its votes the execution … Continue reading
Fight for balance on your board!
Picking up where we left off… In my last insight, I described the CEO who stacked the board with two friends, making a majority for control purposes and relegating the investor representatives to insignificance. There were no outside board members … Continue reading
Your need for a board grows with complexity.
Start-ups with one founder rarely have or need a board of directors. In fact, such a board would seem out of place in a one-person company. As soon as any outside money is ingested into the corporation, others have a … Continue reading
Your board should protect you!
All other board functions are secondary. Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. They write in their investment documents that they will occupy a seat on the board for as long … Continue reading
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Hire a consultant; ignore the advice!
The ideal use of consultants… At one time or another, most all businesses use consultants to fill the gaps in knowledge or to provide guidance for management. Consultants are good in that you can sample their work with short projects, … Continue reading
How to cheat legally on your tax return.
When do you cross the line between honesty and dishonesty in tax planning? Is it ethical to allocate income between periods to take advantage of tax breaks? Can expenses be put off until the next period to increase income, or … Continue reading
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Do you really need an accountant?
First, let’s be sure we define our terms. Accountants are trained, certified and usually quite experienced in financial analysis, both creating and reviewing data. Bookkeepers are often trained on the job although sometimes more formally and handle the physical work … Continue reading
Can your lawyer destroy a good business deal?
Let’s talk about lawyers… Over the years in business and as a member of over forty boards, I have received good advice from corporate attorneys and on occasion bad advice as well. There is a line that should be drawn … Continue reading
What if you see juicy competitor information?
Has this happened to you? Many of us belong to industry associations and find ourselves at conferences and trade shows with time to spend with competitors. Some of these are old friends, some even former associates. It is natural to … Continue reading
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Should you be optimistic about your corporate growth?
Planning for future space needs after COVID. One of the most obvious observations I make with growing company CEO’s is that planning for a new office is done with an optimistic view of the future, incorporating planned space that compromises … Continue reading
