Safety First

Factory - Safety First, originally uploaded by shutupyourface.

Be it In the factory

Be It On The Road;

Be It In The Office;

Safety 1st is Number 1 priority of everyone.

How a leader shall lead by example??

Leadership: The Tough Job of Top CEO

In my opinion:

A CEO is the seasoned Leader who shall know when to go forward & when to retreat!! Be responsible for what his/her action.

As Sun Zi said:

An Army Commander's Must Know when to seize the Opportunity & Take Risk!!

A Hero need to know when to go forward & when to retreat!!



Leadership: who wants the tough job of top CEO?

The global transition to an information-based economy is making top leadership jobs even tougher than in the past, reports Geoffrey Colvin in Fortune. According to the author, this shift creates two key challenges for today’s leaders:

The outdated business model: in the past companies could rely on the same business model for decades. Now business models, which are no longer tied to physical assets, are changing continually and leaders need the courage to face this reality.
Increased customer and investor power: Access to better information on prices and global overcapacity in many industries has shifted the balance of power firmly in favor of customers. Investors, more likely to be big institutions than individuals, are also gaining influence.

The CEO position has been further weakened by the growing power wielded by boards of directors and highly skilled employees as the global talent war intensifies, explains the author. While these leadership challenges may lead to company decline in some cases, there are also great comebacks waiting to happen, notes the author. Leaders like Steve Jobs at Apple Computer and Lou Gerstner at IBM should be an inspiration, encouraging managers to embrace challenges, rather than fear them, concludes the author.

Full story. Geoffrey Colvin: "Who Wants to Be the Boss?” in Fortune (8 February 2006).

Power of Water

Winter rough sea, originally uploaded by luisa_m_c_m_cruz.

Can you visualized the wisdom of:

Power of Water??

Team Work!!

Push!!!, originally uploaded by cgmh86.

In a corporation, team work is a very very important!!

Looking at this; even ants can achieve team work together, why people cannot??

Looking Ahead . . . Looking Within

Looking Ahead . . . Looking Within, originally uploaded by Lady-bug.

This is something that everyone need to do !!

Everyday & Everynight!!

Water Wisdom

Water Wisdom, originally uploaded by CharlieBrown8989.

You may wonder why I put this motivational words here??

In a corporation or a Nation, people is just like the water.

The longevity of corporation or Nation's are dependant on their people.

Like the Water Wisdom mentioned by Lao Zi:-

Water Can Carry The Load of A Boat;
Water Also Can Capsize A Boat!!

There is a young guy asking me why I post this with the www.flickr.com/groups/wales/

I replied that wisdom is for everyone.

However, he comeback & said that is nothing to do with "Wales" the topic is not right for the group.

I hate to said that in this world , theere are full of ignorance people like these.

That is exactly what Confucious said:

Such People cannot be taugh!!

Honesty & Speak The Truth!!

Golden Son's Rise, originally uploaded by CharlieBrown8989.

Honesty & Truth is the the most important characters in the Corporate Culture.

This is More so for Leader's.

Today, Leadership is not restricted to the people on the management team.

My opinion is that today, corporation Leadership is involve all the people in the corporation.

Cracking Your Next Company's Culture

This is what I found after sign up with

www.rojo.com

Cracking Your Next Company's Culture

Here's what not to do: Dress up like the FedEx dude and eavesdrop on a prospective employer's meetings. Or spike your potential coworkers' coffee to get them dishing on the boss.

We understand the temptation. We've all said yes to what we thought would be our dream job, only to discover that by the time we have oursecurity-card photo taken that it looks very different on the inside. But unless you'd like the cops involved, such covert tactics are hardly the way to complete the picture.

Sure, any smart job hunter does the standard detective work: Dissect a company's annual reports, track down former employees, and Google the new boss to make sure there aren't hate sites devoted to his name. But there are other stealth (and very legal) ways to get beyond the glossy surface and make sure any potential employer's sales pitch matches up with reality. "When you're interviewing for a job, you're typically thinking about your new title, the big-name company, and the money it will bring you," says Billie G. Blair, a Los Angeles-based organizational psychologist and management consultant. "What you really should be doing is stepping back from that and paying attention to all the small things." So rev up those five senses. You'll need them to weed out the nightmare jobs and find the one that's the perfect fit for you.

1 The office is your fishbowl

In 2001, Mary Dondiego walked into Connect Public Relations, a firm in Provo, Utah, for an interview, and was immediately startled by the office's overwhelming silence. "There was basically one large room where I couldn't see anyone's head over the cubicles," she recalls. "I thought that was weird initially, but I shrugged it off." Her hunch proved right. Coworkers who sat right next to her emailed instead of talking, and she found the culture stifling and compartmentalized. (Connect's founder and president, Neil Myers, says the firm has a "hard-working, heads-down" culture that's not right for everyone.)

Please read....

Cracking Your Next Company's Culture

Flickr Bully - CharlieBrown8989

Today, at about 5.00pm Flickr team suspended CharlieBrown8989 pro account!!

I cannot sign into my account!!

I am appending the following email for your reference!!

Hello My Friends

Today, I am given a email by a girl call Ana from Flickr:-

[Flickr Case 35709] Re: About your Flickr account

Hi Charlie,

We are currently evaluating limits on how many contacts a
member can add. You currently have over 10,000 contacts
and the number seems to be growing. I ask at this time
that you begin removing contacts from your list.

We will be putting a limit in place very soon and instead
of us just dumping your contacts, it would probably be
better if you started selecting which ones you prefer to
keep.

Please respond to this email address so I know you've read
and understood this request.

Thank you,
Ana & The Flickr Team

This is getting too much!!

I am sure this is against the human rights. & suppression of minority!!

Moreover this is America!!

This is my friendly advise the Flickr team should stop doing things like these.

Jerry Yang, I am sure this is your job to look at the things now!!

I appreciate that...

Governing People By Fear??

Silent Passage, originally uploaded by CharlieBrown8989.

Governing People By Fear!!



Governing People Cannot Rule by Fear!!

Rule By Fear, It can only last for sometime.

But Not The Whole Century!!

So you see the wisdom of Tao...

CEOs refuse to get tangled up in messy blogs

It is interesting to note that:-

Eight and a half million people are writing blogs, up from 100,000 two years ago, and a new one begins every seven seconds, according to search engine Technorati. Some large companies, including Boeing, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems, are letting senior executives blog, but not a single blogger is known to be a Fortune 1000 chairman and/or CEO.

Not a Single blogger is know to be a Fortune 1000 Chairman &/or CEO. As from my research, most of the Chairman & CEO of the present Fortune 1000 Chairman &/ or CEO are belong to the early 60's or the Baby bloomer's group. It is a difference culture in sharing of the thoughts & ideas real time.

Traditionally, Chairman/ CEO are seve by secretary & Public relations officer's in their public papers, speeches..etc. the exposure for their mistake is less they handling the Blog themself.

With the Blogging technology is more friendly then ever today, I am in the opinion that Chairman & CEO must capitalized on the Blog strength to reach not only their employees.. & also to reach the Share holders' , Customers, Supppliers directly by publishing their own Blog.

CEOs refuse to get tangled up in messy blogs
By Del Jones, USA TODAY

Considering how outspoken some CEOs tend to be, you'd think there must be some brave head of a major company out there itching to write a blog. Dell Computer's Michael Dell? FedEx's Fred Smith? Xerox's Anne Mulcahy?

Eight and a half million people are writing blogs, up from 100,000 two years ago, and a new one begins every seven seconds, according to search engine Technorati. Some large companies, including Boeing, General Motors, Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems, are letting senior executives blog, but not a single blogger is known to be a Fortune 1000 chairman and/or CEO.

In part, that seems surprising. Blogs, short for weblogs, are personal Web sites for posting thoughts, rants and opinions in chronological order. One written by a CEO would slice through traditional media gatekeepers and bring him or her unedited to the desktop of customers, employees, Wall Street analysts and competitors. A blog by a prominent CEO would attract instant traffic, could influence public opinion, perhaps steer legislation and maybe sell a few widgets.

But despite all of the power and sway that awaits an early adopter, it's going to take a brave CEO with thick skin to enter the blogosphere. The corporate sphere likes its skeletons packed away, or at least vetted through legal and public relations departments. Companies have been trained to be inoffensive.

The blogosphere, on the other hand, wars against harmony. Its mission is to air dirty laundry. There is even an undercurrent of radical bloggers who say all companies are evil and should be brought down.

The blogosphere is today's Wild West, where people post indelicate responses and react with incivility, known as "flaming." Blog readers can be counted on to hurl insults that insulated CEOs are not accustomed to hearing. Even more civilized blog readers are impatient with executives who are uninteresting or inauthentic.

When high-ranking executives blog, it's often not pretty. Randy Baseler, vice president of commercial airplanes at Boeing, writes a blog called Randy's Journal. But when Boeing ousted CEO Harry Stonecipher for having an affair with Boeing vice president Debra Peabody, Baseler was just the Boeing insider that raucous blog readers expected to post explicit e-mails exchanged between the lovers.

No such luck. Baseler's blog lay dormant for two weeks. When he finally posted, his entry began: "We've had an interesting couple of weeks as a company, that's for sure. But none of that has made a bit of difference down here on the ground. The focus at Commercial Airplanes is, as always, on our customers and on the future."
EXECUTIVE BLOGS
Jonathan Schwartz, chief operating officer, Sun Microsystems; http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/jonathan
Greg Papadopoulos, chief technology officer, Sun Microsystems; http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/Gregp/
Randy Beseler, VP, Boeing Commercial Airplanes; http://www.boeing.com/randy/
Alan Meckler, CEO Jupitermedia; http://weblogs.jupitermedia.com/meckler/
Mark Cuban, owner, Dallas Mavericks, co-founder Broadcast.com; http://www.blogmaverick.com/
Rich Marcello, senior vice president, Business Critical Servers, Hewlett-Packard; http://h20276.www2.hp.com/blogs/marcello
Christian Lindholm, director of multimedia applications, Nokia Ventures Organization (Finland); http://www.christianlindholm.com/christianlindholm/
Craig Newmark, founder Craigslist; http://www.cnewmark.com/
Bob Pritchett, president, Logos Bible Software; http://www.bobpritchett.com/blog/
Joe Wikert, vice president and publisher, John Wiley & Sons, Professional/Trade Division; http://jwikert.typepad.com/the_average_joe/
General Motors blog with Bob Lutz, vice chairman, product development; http://fastlane.gmblogs.com

Source: USA TODAY research



The vague nod to the Stonecipher incident brought cries from readers who accused Baseler of wasting their time and cyberspace and making the world a dumber place with platitudes.

"Rumors and innuendos (are) not what this blog is about," Baseler said in an interview, but he has listened to criticism and recently upgraded his blog to permit reader comments — after carefully screening out those judged to be inflammatory. "If someone wants to start up a gossip column, they're welcome. That's not what I want to talk about," he says.

Getting feedback

CEOs are becoming aware that blogs wield power. Blogs all but launched Howard Dean as a presidential candidate, and they contributed to the departure of Dan Rather as CBS anchor. There are some CEO bloggers, but they come mostly from public relations or small tech firms such as Buzznet, Craigslist and Jupitermedia.

Many companies encourage blogging — below the CEO level. Microsoft has 1,800 employees doing it. They include Robert Scoble, who is becoming a cybercelebrity and is read worldwide. But neither Chairman Bill Gates nor CEO Steve Ballmer blog. Nor does Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, perhaps the most blunt Fortune 500 CEO. McNealy has never been accused of being neutral, but when it comes to blogging, he said in a 2004 speech that he has been advised to be more like "Switzerland." Spokesman Noel Hartzell says McNealy was kidding about Switzerland, but confirms that 1,000 of Sun's 32,000 workers blog, and McNealy isn't among them.

But Sun's second in command and Chief Operating Officer Jonathan Schwartz is among the non-CEO, yet high-ranking, bloggers at large companies. His blog includes open letters to Brazil's president and to IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, missives about a controversial game called Virtual Girlfriend and his father's U.S. intelligence career.

General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz writes a blog, as does Hewlett-Packard Senior Vice President and general manager of business critical servers Rich Marcello.

Lutz's blog rebuts negative auto reviews. And, unlike most executive blogs, he posts numerous reader comments, both supportive and critical. When on April 19, Lutz touted the Buick LaCrosse, a responder named Cody posted: "Yawn!! Buick. Uhhhhh, does anybody buy Buick anymore?"

Corporate blogging consultant Debbie Weil says there's an untapped opportunity for an early CEO adopter with the right touch. A blog would seem a nice fit for Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, who writes annual letters to shareholders with a blogger's flair and might have used the forum to respond to New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's probe into American International Group and a deal involving a Berkshire reinsurance subsidiary.

A CEO in the hot seat such as Wal-Mart's H. Lee Scott could answer a lot of criticism with a blog. But it's not surprising that CEOs have so far ruled blogs out. They would create another avenue for critics. The blogosphere would object to dull entries, yet CEOs would still feel obligated to appease everyone from customers to shareholders to regulators. Someone like Scott would likely be pummeled with flamers and perhaps tempted to flame back. He would have to walk the impossible line between risk and readability.

"I would be really disappointed to think that CEOs couldn't blog," Weil says. "But it is a lot more difficult for a CEO to be that open."

Who's welcome

If blogging is the Wild West, blogging purists are the cattle ranchers out to run off sheep-herding executives for trespassing on their space. Baseler says he has received e-mails insisting that he exit, because if there is a place for corporate blogs, it's for employees to expose companies.

H-P, like Boeing, had a high-profile CEO ousting when Carly Fiorina left in February. This is how Senior Vice President Marcello addressed it: "So what was the reaction to Carly's departure internally? It varied. There were many people in HP who believed she was an extraordinary leader during her six years here — I was one of them. She has unbelievable innate leadership skills. She painted a vision for the company and stuck to it."

Again, far too tame for most blog readers, but at least he addressed it, says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Cuban writes an edgy blog read by 1 million and reaches 100,000 via RSS (really simple syndication), where people can aggregate links to blogs onto a single Web page. Cuban says a non-CEO executive such as Marcello can get away with a nod, but if a CEO were to blog, there would be no way to ignore the elephant in the room. Honesty is key, and any CEO thought to be hiding details would only inflame blog readers, he says.

Marcello likes to reference poetry and music in his blog, and in an interview, he said blogs, like lyrics and poetry, must be from the heart. He says he'd ignore orders to tone his down. He says he sells servers for $2 million, and customers of such high-end products like a certain intimacy with the sales agent.

"I write what I believe. It's not really a blog anymore if it's filtered in any way," Marcello says.

Boeing's Baseler sells jets worth 60 times as much as H-P servers. That means his customers, too, probably want to know him well. But Baseler says he must be careful, "somewhat cautionary to make sure my blog has the culture, tone and feel of the company."

Winans International CEO Ken Winans says corporate bloggers are taking a big risk, because everyone from the Securities and Exchange Commission to "ambulance-chasing" lawyers are reading. It's a matter of time before one lands a company in court, Winans says.

"I'm not sure why anyone would sue me," says billionaire Cuban, who writes perhaps the most free-wheeling blog of anyone with deep pockets. "This is the USA, and freedom of speech is still protected," Cuban says in an e-mail, then points out that it was his stab at humor to ask why anyone in the USA would be compelled to sue.

SEC spokesman John Heine says he isn't aware of any SEC initiative specifically targeting executive blogs, but "we're always interested in everything."

"If someone writes on a blog at 3 a.m., is that a forward-looking statement?" asks Technorati CEO David Sifry, himself a blogger. "If that doesn't put fear into you, it should."

Wendell Weeks, who became Corning CEO on May 1, also sees significant legal risk. "You can't endanger the institution," he says. "A blog seems terribly self-absorbed. Maybe it makes me a Luddite," but he doubts if he will ever write one.

Sun's Schwartz recognized the sensitivity of a blog when he started to write an April Fool's Day entry but abandoned the attempt on his legal department's advice.

However, he says a blog is no different from a keynote speech. Those, too, need to be interesting and authentic, but can't be inflammatory. He sees blogs as less dangerous legally than e-mail because executives write blogs knowing they will be publicly available.

Even CEOs who have made peace with the legal risks might find that a blog is not worth the time and effort. Baseler says a good entry can take a couple of hours to write. He says it's worth it, because the more than 50,000 visits he's had since launching Randy's Journal in January are more than he could reach making speeches.

Schwartz says he has 30,000 readers on good days, up from 3,000 to 5,000 six months ago. After Marcello launched his blog before last Christmas, page views were running at fewer than 100 a month. April's page views were 3,176, a 51% increase from the 2,097 in March, which were up 58% from February's 1,326.

While executive bloggers are careful not to offend, there is one topic that appears to be fair game: the competition. Baseler doesn't hesitate to criticize Airbus. Sun's Schwartz said in his blog that one of Hewlett-Packard's operating systems was on its deathbed. A few weeks later, H-P sent Sun a cease-and-desist letter asking for a retraction. Rather than retract, Schwartz seemed to poke fun at H-P by linking to the letter from his blog.

Marcello counterattacked. He said in his blog that "Sun has lost so much money," that he is hearing from Sun customers who are nervous about the company's future and therefore wonder if they should spend millions on Sun servers going forward.

Blogging executives get "fine-grain" reports about who their readers are, and many of the most devoted readers are competitors, Sun Microsystems' Schwartz says. Baseler agrees. He says many readers of his blog live in Europe, which suggests some connection to Airbus.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/internetlife/2005-05-09-blog-cover_x.htm

Moon...

Eid Moon filtered, originally uploaded by sume.

Moon....

Has It's Wane!!


What does that Means In the Philosophy in one Life??

I Shall Continue...

Moon

moon, originally uploaded by *yuka-chan*.

Moon Has Its Wax;
to be continue.....

Turn your name tag into your best friend

When I was in school, I always hate to wear a big School-Name Tag.

However, after I complete my study & start working & attend many trade show & seminar. I begin to realized that the Name Tag indeed is a business tool.

The follow is the article for further reading...... enjoy...


Turn your name tag into your best friend

Your name tag is your best friend. It can be a lifesaver in meetings, trade shows and events to start conversations when you meet groups of new people. It will also identify you as well as your company in the minds of others. As a result, you will become more approachable and transform strangers into valuable connections. Unfortunately, name tags can become useless and ineffective when they are designed and worn without careful consideration.

By avoiding these 7 deadly sins of ineffective name tags, you maximize your approachability by making your name tag more visible, more accessible, and more efficient. It invites people to "step onto your front porch"... crossing the chasm between a stranger and a friend, or a prospect and a customer:



1) Size
How many times has someone rudely squinted at your chest desperately trying to make out those tiny letters? This can be self defeating, embarrassing and actually work to decrease your approachability. Not to mention it makes the other person feel ridiculous! So, much like a retail price tag, your name tag should be readable from ten feet away... both the font and the name tag itself.

According to a name tag survey done by David Alder of Biz Bash, 50% of a group of meeting planners claimed that "illegible font size of name tags was a major problem." And, considering the 75 million baby boomers that have reached, or will reach their bifocal days, this should your top priority. The recommended font size is 24 point, which is at least one inch per letter. Also be certain to avoid cursive, script or other fancy lettering.



2) Clutter
Avoid name tags with overly thick borders, unnecessary clutter or too much text. It should be easy on the eyes and all of the information contained should be readable and memorable in less than five seconds. Although including your company name, position and logo is an excellent way to position yourself from a networking standpoint, having some empty background space is vital for contrast. However, if you include anything other than your name, make sure that supplementary text is significantly smaller than the name itself. Remember, they call them name tags because the name should be the focal point.



3) Color
The most effective background color for name tags is white. This will allow maximum visibility for your logo, name and position. Dark blue, green or red backgrounds can be used occasionally, but they have a tendency to "steal the show" from the rest of your name tag.

The font itself should always be black or dark blue. Never use yellow, orange or any other light color. Even if a dark color choice means an aesthetic digression, fashion must be outweighed by your name tag's approachability and visibility! Finally, unless you work in an academic capacity, avoid gold name tags.



4) Turnaround
This is one of the most frustrating problems that most people have faced: "the name tag turnaround." No name. No logo. No company. Just the blank back of the badge! While lanyard or necklace style name tags may reduce clothing damage, there is no doubt these will get accidentally turned around and tangled at some point!

Therefore it is vital to always write the exact same information on both sides. And, if someone who doesn't know your name sees your reversed name tag, they might shrug their shoulders, turn away and find another person to talk to! (NOTE: Writing the information on both sides also eliminates the possibility that some of us will purposely turn our name tags around. "Lead us not into temptation…")



5) Placement
The horizontal placement of your name tag is a function of the context in which you wear it. Name tags will be easily visible in the line of sight correlating to your handshake. Most businesses handbooks will instruct you to wear name tag in this manner. And, it is a good visual aid for people who have trouble remembering names... which is everyone!

On the other hand, for mobile and populated events such as trade shows, expos and conventions, it may be more effective to wear your name tag on your left side. This allows people who approach in your opposite direction to see your name tag with significant ease, since we traditionally walk on the right side of the road/aisle/hallway.



6) Presence
Although horizontal placement of your name tag is an important consideration, vertical placement is certainly the most important visibility characteristic. Wearing a name tag in the middle of your chest is likely to get covered by your arms, papers or some other obstruction. Furthermore, central placement of your name tag will make you unavailable to people outside of your conversation, thus limiting your ability to meet more valuable people.

So, your name tag is pointless if it's worn below your breastbone. The most effective location is two to three inches below your collar bone on whichever side most fitting for your function. This allows maximum eye contact. Furthermore, high vertical placement of your name tag eliminates the possibility that it will be covered by something. For example, if your name tag hangs too low, it will be impossible for other people to read it when you: sit down, cross your arms, wear a jacket, write down information or use gestures while you talk.



7) Maximization
Have you ever seen a five inch name tag with tiny letters the size of sunflower seeds? What a waste! Utilize any and all blank space provided by your name tag. Make it huge! Don't worry about looking silly, because everyone looks silly! And, although font size should be consistently large anyway, don't hesitate to increase the font commensurate with the size of the name tag itself. Imagine your name tag is a personal advertisement. Maximize your space efficiently. Think about this: you will never see a billboard on the highway that only uses half the space provided!

The next time you go to a meeting, convention, seminar or trade show, remember that your name tag is your best friend. In other words, think of your name tag as your "front porch." It invites people. It makes them feel comfortable. And, it initiates conversations that transform strangers into valuable connections. But, like any good front porch, it's important to create and wear name tags that are visible, accessible, and efficient so you can maximize your approachability.



Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, "the world's foremost field expert on name tags" and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He works with people and organizations who want to become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at http://www.hellomynameisscott.com .

Rising Sun

Look through 2 the bright side, originally uploaded by !!uAe prince!!.

As in Nature!!

There Is Sunrise;

There Is Sunset!!

These Universal Law Do apply to all lives & Entitities that created as well.

Thus A Corporation hove it's

Birth

Then It Also Have Its

Death

Same goes to the Leadship & Leader's

Just Like

Sun Rise; Sun Set!!

Mountains Goes High; Water......

, originally uploaded by Deem.

Mountains Goes High;

Water Flows Low;


To Be Continue....

Seagull Leadership - Stay on Target!!

stay on target stay on target, originally uploaded by fubuki.

From The Nature...

That is where we Learn About Leadership!!

In the Case of Seagull;

Which I research into, when I was living in Swansea, United Kingdom...

I found is:

Seagull have a Team Leader, Seagulls all follows the signal or commuicating Language of their Leader.

Also, once they found the Leader is incapable in the position, they would remove him.

Did Seagull Leader Attended the Elite Business School for MBA or Phd or Dsc??

Absolutely Not!!

What they know is With Food We Travel!!

When I throw the bread out of the window or offering bread or fish at the beach of Swansea Bay. They would rush for the target -- Food!!

The old saying of:

People Go for Death Because of Money;

Birds go for Death Because of Food!!

Garfield & Snail

Garfield 14/03/2005, originally uploaded by wirjo.

Don't Worries You Are Slow!!


The Wisdom is:

Do Not Worries About You Are Slow;

You Should Concern About You Just Standing There!!

Blogger Down for the last 48 hours

Due To Blogger server problem. I am unable to Post for the last 2 days.

I will be resume the posting tomorrow.

Stay in tune. Thanks...

CEO pay packages 'business as usual' There is some evidence CEO's are tempering their own pay

It is for sure that CEO Pay's & Remunerations should tied in with their performance.

However, The so call

Culture Value
http://www.blogger.com/images/bold.gif
bold
Spirit of Giving

Individual Commitments

Leadership Quality

Moral, Ethics & Conducts

Have been replaced by the emphasis of "Monetary Gain" & "Celebrityship" of the individual "CEO"!!

Any individual who can convince the Head Hunter as well as the Board to Hire them, then the "Monetary" & "Celebrity Flame" , once appointed, these 2things are guaranty!!

Looking back at those old time. The King or Emperor is the supreme command or authority in Compensations & Rewards. All the stardome of Minister's or Genral's or Official's are control by the Emperor or the King. Hence the Valuations is done at the very top level. These may look the same for small businesses . But it don't apply to the Midium Size firm's & Big Coporation's today.

As Sun Tze said:
If the Leader or his fellow soldier's have to resort to Bribery, then the country existence would be in danger!!

CEO pay packages 'business as usual'
There is some evidence CEO's are tempering their own pay
BY GARY STRAUSS and BARBARA HANSEN

Big CEO paydays are back in style.

After three years of modest gains, higher corporate earnings and rising stock prices helped many executives post their largest personal financial windfalls since the go-go 1990s.

CEOs pulled in median compensation of about $14 million in 2004, up 25 percent from 2003, according to a USA Today analysis of the largest 100 public companies filing annual proxies through March 25. Compensation includes salary, bonus, incentives, stock awards, stock-option gains and potential returns from fresh option grants. Data were provided by executive-pay-tracker eComp Data Services.

USA Today reviewed several hundred fiscal 2004 proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and found that some of the biggest compensation winners oversee small companies. Coach's Lew Frankfort pocketed $84 million exercising options, and received fresh grants worth more than $130 million, while Forest Laboratories' Howard Solomon gained $90.5 million from exercising options. Across a broad cross-section of companies, there was extensive use of income-boosting retention bonuses, supplemental retirement pay and perks ranging from tax reimbursements to personal use of corporate jets.

"Forget restraint," said Paul Hodgson, analyst for shareholder watchdog group The Corporate Library. "After years of moderate gains, it's business as usual."

Institutional shareholders, the corporate governance movement and tighter regulatory scrutiny mandated by 2002's Sarbanes-Oxley Act have prompted greater corporate oversight by directors and have emboldened more boards to oust CEOs over non-performance, malfeasance, even moral lapses. Despite new Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange rules mandating board autonomy, directors remain largely beholden to management when it comes to compensation. The era of CEO pay packages befitting royalty still reigns.

Compensation consultants say many boards are more diligent in linking pay for performance and sensitive to shareholder criticism, especially after several slow years on Wall Street. But "there's still a culture that says any sort of positive performance has to be met with a significant increase in pay," Pat McGurn of proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services said. "It's become an executive entitlement system."

Since scandals at Enron, WorldCom and other companies, directors share the same liability for corporate collapses as the CEOs they oversee. So it's understandable that most spend more time scrutinizing management over finances than over executive compensation. Standard & Poor's 500 boards averaged nine audit committee meetings in 2003, up from 7.5 in 2002, the latest years tracked by the Investor Responsibility Research Center. Compensation committees
averaged 5.6 meetings in 2003, vs. five in 2002. Based on current proxy data, there's little apparent change.

"There may be more discussion and agonizing over compensation, but CEO pay has not been directly addressed by new regulations," IRRC governance research chief Carol Bowie said. "It's still up to the compensation committees."

Many changes

Many boards have changed pay practices to better align interests with shareholders. PepsiCo, among others, jettisoned traditional stock options for performance-based restricted shares that are worthless unless earnings targets are met. At Merrill Lynch, all but 2 percent of Stanley O'Neal's $32 million pay package is in restricted shares untouchable until 2009. In 2003, almost 50 percent of O'Neal's $28 million pay was cash.

Board consultants contend CEO pay would have been even higher if not for more diligence. "Directors are giving a lot more consideration to what they're handing out," Blair Jones of Sibson Consulting said.

Veteran board consultant Ira Kay of Watson Wyatt agrees. "Keep in mind that what executives are asking for is quite a bit more than what compensation committees are giving. So it could have been worse."

But at most companies, CEOs still wield influence over their pay. "There's no rule that a CEO can't be present when directors discuss his pay," consultant James Reda said. "And if you ask 10 consultants to evaluate performance, there are no standards. It's an area ripe for misjudgment."

At least there's evidence that some CEOs are tempering their pay. Home builder Toll Bros. bases Robert Toll's annual bonus on a profit and shareholder equity formula that should have netted $49.7 million. Toll agreed to take nearly 40 percent less. Citigroup CEO Chuck Prince, noting regulatory setbacks in the USA and abroad, asked directors to cut his incentive award 15 percent.

Other executives remain tied to pay plans regardless of stock performance. Tommy Hilfiger's contract with the apparel marketer that bears his name pays him $900,000 a year. The company's incentive plan pays Hilfiger 1.5 percent of annual sales above $48.3 million, which provided a $17.4 million bonus in 2004, $19.7 million in 2003 and $21.5 million in 2002. Hilfiger shares? They peaked at $41 in 1999. Wednesday's close: $11.64.

The company declined comment.

Given increasing shareholder unrest and some shift in the fraternal culture among directors, "We're seeing some make moral and ethical obligations to shareholders to make sure pay practices are reasonable," said Bill Coleman of compensation tracker Salary.com. "But you've got boards still saying, 'What does the CEO want?' Most directors are in the ostrich crowd, sticking their heads in the sand and doing what they've always done."

Pay, performance

Among companies where pay and stock performance diverged:

Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bancorp's shares lost 20 percent and earnings fell 12 percent. But CEO George Schaefer received an $825,000 bonus after directors used their "best business judgment" analyzing measures such as the economy, his progress on regulatory matters and leadership objectives, according to its proxy. Schaefer also got options worth up to $17 million and gained $9 million exercising options. The company did not return calls.

"CEOs should take the biggest hits when the company doesn't perform," said retired Medtronic CEO Bill George, author of "Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value." "We get the benefits when business is good. We should take the biggest hit when it doesn't. Boards can't justify incentive pay because management did as well as it could under the circumstances."

Anheuser-Busch shares have been as flat as day-old beer since Patrick Stokes became CEO in July 2002. In setting Stokes' 2004 salary -- up 5 percent to $1.5 million -- directors gauged shareholder return, financial results, market share and CEO pay at 20 companies. That said, "Actual salary determination is subjective in that there are no specific weightings for the variables considered," Anheuser's proxy said. Since 2002, Stokes has received options potentially worth $290 million. But according to Anheuser, Stokes' holdings are currently worth just $37 million.

Anheuser wants shareholder approval to boost the maximum potential annual bonuses to senior managers 50 percent to $6 million. Stokes received a $3.1 million bonus in 2004. The company declined comment beyond what's in its proxy.

"There can be disconnects in incentive pay and actual performance," said Jan Koors of consultant Pearl Meyer & Partners. "When there are so many subjectives to consider, it's all hocus pocus."

Leadership

Eli Lilly's shares slumped 19 percent in 2004, but CEO Sidney Taurel's combined salary, bonus and stock grant surged 74 percent to $4.6 million. Lilly's board said it considered not only shareholder return and financial results but also Taurel's leadership in "important initiatives to improve the company's productivity" and enabling it to "compete in an increasingly challenging business environment." Lilly directors also concluded that Taurel's compensation was "significantly" below that of his peers, giving him 400,000 options the company valued at about $11 million, vs. 2003's 350,000 option grant worth $7.2 million.

"A significant portion of his compensation is at-risk and dependent upon company performance, and Lilly's financial performance and new product flow was strong in 2004," spokesman Philip Belt said.

Merck shares sank 30 percent after the company pulled its profitable Vioxx pain reliever off the market Sept. 30 because of safety concerns. Directors conceded that operating results were below target but gave Ray Gilmartin a $1.4 million bonus after deciding that he'd met his "personal performance objectives." Gilmartin also received options that Merck's proxy said are valued at $19.2 million. He also pocketed $34.8 million exercising options. With Vioxx's revenue stream still dry, Merck directors are lowering the performance bar for 2005 incentive pay. "Merck's focus is now on the future, on renewing the growth of the company," spokesman Chris Loder said.

Coleman said: "What's troubling is that most directors still aren't holding management accountable for bad circumstances. When is a bad event not the responsibility of management?"

A competitive market

CEO pay will likely spiral higher as the hunt for seasoned replacements at companies such as Fannie Mae and Boeing force boards to pony up fat sign-on deals. Hewlett-Packard just hired NCR's Mark Hurd in a four-year deal potentially worth more than $70 million.

Vacancies at a handful of high-profile companies overshadow broader upheaval. Outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas counted 103 CEO departures in February - the first monthly turnover of more than 100 CEOs since early 2001 - and 92 in January.

A robust CEO job market makes retention crucial at other firms, further driving pay. "Boards will err on the side of paying more because there's so much aggravation in recruiting, given the time, cost and disruption," Kay said.

Increasingly, paying up for talent applies to next-tier managers, especially CFOs. Apple directors want shareholders to approve plans to pay key managers up to $5 million in annual bonuses. Without it, Apple said, its executives make 35 percent less cash than competitive market rates. More problematic, governance experts say, are boards boosting potential payouts even when there's little apparent rationale for higher pay, particularly at companies run by founders or long-tenured CEOs nearing retirement.

"Regardless of how a CEO performs, boards are still caught up in this mantra that if we don't pay this guy, he's going," Hodgson said. "But when was the last time a (poor performer) said he was leaving because he was dissatisfied with his pay package?"

Even if boatloads of CEOs aren't threatening to jump ship, base salaries and target levels for bonuses are creeping higher as companies benchmark rivals. Many boards try to keep their CEO's pay above median levels, a practice known among pay critics as the Lake Wobegon effect: where most every CEO is considered above average. Compensation expert and UCLA professor David Lewin said: "Pay keeps ratcheting up because everyone tries to do better than the Joneses rather than just keeping up with them."

Shareholders revenge?

Increasingly, shareholders are challenging boards to temper CEO pay. More than 100 proposals to curb pay, set stringent performance guidelines and limit severance packages are on shareholder ballots this proxy season, said Shirley Westcott of adviser Proxy Governance. Most boards have resisted similar proposals, contending they limit the ability to attract, retain and motivate management. Even when such measures have gotten majority shareholder approval, boards often ignore them.

Also under consideration: Nearly two dozen shareholder proposals seeking to end the boardroom's insular atmosphere where most shareholders have little choice in selecting directors, essentially affirming management's nominees. Most companies reject the idea and recently persuaded the Securities and Exchange Commission to table implementing an open-access measure enabling shareholders to nominate board candidates.

"Shareholders have little influence, if any, because directors literally can't not be elected," Bowie said. "Most are chosen by boards, and there are the same number as board seats. It's like the communist election system: You can't lose."

Until regulators require companies to provide more disclosure on pay practices and open up director elections, boards are under no pressure to change, governance experts say.

"Large pay packages continue to touch a raw nerve," said Harvard professor Lucian Bebchuk, author of 2004's "Pay Without Performance: The Unfulfilled Promise of Executive Compensation." "As long as boards are unaccountable, Corporate America won't change and fundamental problems will remain."

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