ISHOF Helps with New Safety Initiatives
The International Swimming Hall of Fame, where Dennis Carey is on the Board of Directors, takes important steps each year to guarantee pool safety. In recent news, Olympic greats Janet Evans and Jason Lezak came to the International Swimming Hall of Fame to help the Consumer Product Safety Commission to launch their “Pool Safely” campaign.
The national campaign is intended to raise awareness about drowning and entrapment prevention, to promote industry compliance and to improve safety at pools and spas. A press conference was held as part of the kick-off on the deck of the Hall of Fame Pool. Present at the press conference were Inez Tenenbaum, Chairman of the CPSC; U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chief House sponsor of the Act; and Nancy Baker, the mother of the Act’s namesake.
Dennis Carey of Korn/Ferry explained that during the year 2000, 60% of its sample of American company directors rejected offers to join a board, siting “lack of time” as their reason. Mr. Carey noticed that more than twice the number of directors that he approached for board posts on important companies turned him down, compared to about ten years ago. He sometimes has to ask as many as ten candidates before he finally gets one affirmative response.
In order to find people willing to take on this challenge today, headhunters are being utilized more frequently than in the past. According to a survey conducted by Korn/Ferry, 73% of the Fortune 1,000 companies used a search firm in 2000 to find a director for their boards, while only 52% used such a firm the year before.
There are several reasons its’ getting harder to find the right “guinea pigs.” Sometimes a company will disallow senior managers from sitting on the boards of other companies. Another disincentive to sitting on a board as an outsider is the demand on the time of the director, which is increasing. It is becoming a popular undertaking to fly entire boards out to branches in distant cities and lands, infringing on the precious time of the boards members.
More to Come
As the trend towards placing outside, non-executive directors on boards of companies, the desire for this type of “perk” is on the wane. It used to be, and not so long ago either, that having the job of independent director was a happy “plus” for important (or at least self-described as important) business men/women nearing the end of their careers. Heads of corporations would appoint executive directors of other companies in a type of “quid pro quo” in which that type of non-exec director would put together a “portfolio” of companies for his retirement. The English had a great name for these older, retiring, directors. They were called “guinea pigs.” Why? Because for a guinea (£1.05) and a free lunch they more than happy catching up on their sleep while the chief executive presented his newest corporate strategy.
To Be Continued
But directors on this caliber and with the right credentials are getting harder to find. In addition, the demands being made on those outside directors are increasing. “Lack of time” seems to be a large reason company directors turn down invitations to join a board. According to Dennis Carey, whose firm Korn/Ferry recruits directors for over 200 companies each year, says that ten years ago he would have been turned down by two or three directors he approached for any given board post on a “company of consequence”. Today, he reckons that this has risen to six or seven rejections, and as many as ten in the case of some luckless firms.
When Dennis Carey is called in to help companies put together a new board or to find the right executive to replace someone leaving, he sees a change in the way companies are configuring their boards. A typical example of this recent trend of boards putting together teams of non-execs is the board at AOL Time Warner. At AOL there is a group of current and former chief executives from many sectors; such as the bosses at Colgate-Palmolive and Hilton Hotels. There are also a few large investors, and a former public servant.
According to an article which appeared in the Economist in 2001, the pool of outside non-executive directors to lead corporations was shrinking while simultaneously the demand for them was increasing. The reason for the rise in demand, according to research by McKinsey, is that investors feel that having non-executive outsiders on the board creates a well-governed company, certainly a desirable goal.
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Dennis Carey, who helps companies find and train CEOs, once spoke about how he started out in the business world and what helped him survive and succeed. Carey’s recipe for success is quite simple: “Hard work alone does not make it…You need results.” In the same speech, he discussed his early career at GEO, explaining: “They had the best leadership program…But it was real competitive. Everybody there with you is looking to get ahead. You have to find an edge.” According to Carey, his edge “was a focused competitiveness and a knack for making the company money.” He added that he has “always been fascinated by new experiences” and advised the students to “love the business. You have to be passionate.”
Dennis Carey on How to Run a Company
In his managerial book entitled ‘How to Run a Company: Lessons from Top Leaders of the CEO Academy,’ Dennis Carey discusses his experience with the CEO Academy, an organization that helps integrate newly-appointed top world company CEOs in a kind of boot camp. Advice and lessons are disposed at these seminars from experienced CEOs about getting results. “What participants pay $10,000 to hear is now contained in this book, the insights and secrets of some of the most influential business leaders of our time. Here is advice from high-caliber businesspeople such as Larry Bossidy, the recently retired CEO of Honeywell International; Ray Gilmartin, the CEO of Merck; John Smale, the former chairman of General Motors and retired chairman and CEO of Procter & Gamble; and John Dasburg, who has run Northwest Airlines, Burger King, and now DHL Airways. Successful CEOs aren’t the only attraction. How to Run a Company also presents America’s leading business observers and watchdogs: Nell Minow, the shareholder rights activist; Ira Millstein, the legendary attorney and power broker; Matthew Bishop, business editor of The Economist; and Joseph Badaracco, Harvard Business School’s top professor of ethics.”
Dennis Carey began his appointment as Senior Client Partner of Korn Ferry International in 2007. The company itself has been in existence for over 40 years and has now “evolved as the world’s premier provider of talent management solutions.” Korn Ferry International attempts to provide its clients with as many different qualified candidates as possible. Dennis Carey works with a team of highly qualified and experienced individuals at Korn Ferry International, including Gary D. Burnison.
Gary Burnison, Korn Ferry’s CEO for the last three years, also served as the company’s CFO and Executive Vice President prior to his current position. As well, Burnison came to Korn Ferry International with tremendous business experience, including being CFO and Principal of Guidance Solutions. He was on the board of directors for Jefferies and Company (a brokerage and investment bank) and was a partner at KPMG Peat Marwick. Clearly Dennis Carey – who also has a very impressive background in the business world – will be working well with someone like Gary Burnison and make the team at Korn Ferry International one to be reckoned with.
