#principal-controversy

#principal-controversy

"I'm in favor of not having any rules against insider trading. I would like all the information out there as soon as it's available. Because look, as a society, we are better off knowing as soon as possible anything that is knowable."

According to Bloomberg Law's Workload & Hours Survey, a third of nonequity partners also say they're undervalued in their roles and more than half say they were burnt out in 2025.

Companies with a higher number of women in senior roles are significantly more likely to dismiss male perpetrators of abuse against female colleagues, according to recent analysis.

When asked why anyone should trust him to guide the rapid acceleration of AI, Altman simply replied: 'You shouldn't.' This response encapsulates the hesitance and uncertainty surrounding AI leadership.

What most leaders label as a content problem is actually a presence problem. Leaders often assume credibility rises and falls based on wording alone. In reality, credibility is shaped by executive presence, which reflects the signals leaders send about confidence, clarity, and authority before their ideas are fully heard.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took the unprecedented step of designating a U.S. firm-Anthropic-as a supply chain risk. Anthropic's crime? It refused to violate industry-wide protocols against using AI for mass surveillance or autonomous weapons. Hegseth's designation, which has until now been reserved for foreign firms, bars U.S. military contractors from doing business with the company.

Rather than stolen data making headlines, it was business stoppage that triggered attention. Moving into 2026, the board's focus should be on ensuring business continuity and building resilience in the face of emerging risks generated by AI usage and attack vectors, quantum computing and geopolitics.

Companies are under attack publicly and privately for policies viewed as "too progressive" or "woke." The reality, however, is that most companies have strongly reaffirmed their sustainability commitments but less so their DEI commitments. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) works in the grey area between the two. Many affirming companies have opted for "greenhushing," staying quiet about their strategies and leadership.

If your partner in Munich mishandles customer data, or your reseller in Paris uses a "black box" AI tool to generate deceptive ads, it isn't just their reputation on the line. It's yours. With the EU AI Act now in full swing and GDPR entering its "mature enforcement" era, the distance between a partner's mistake and your company's $20 million fine has never been shorter.

CEOs are struggling to find their footing these days. Their role seemed clearer during Covid, when many executives rose to the challenge of becoming inspirational figures. They led their businesses while guiding their employees through a challenging shared experience. That was the case as well for many U.S. CEOs in 2020 when George Floyd's murder shocked the nation, and employees looked to their leaders for guidance and assurance.

A leader who has ascended to the level of CEO contender is likely a high performer with broad institutional knowledge and deep relationships, both inside and outside the firm. Such a star walking out the door can scramble organizational operations, ruin team morale, and dent a company's bottom line. Top executive turnover typically costs many multiples of the person's annual salary.

As we kick off 2026, activist investor campaigns are no longer just prevalent; they are global, sophisticated, and have increasingly become an acute threat to corporate leadership. The escalating pressure is undeniable: Barclays data shows that activist investor campaigns hit a high last year - surpassing 2024 by 5% - with 32 CEOs resigning as a result (a record) - and showing no signs of slowing down.

Businesses are acting fast to adopt agentic AI- artificial intelligence systems that work without human guidance-but have been much slower to put governance in place to oversee them, a new survey shows. That mismatch is a major source of risk in AI adoption. In my view, it's also a business opportunity. I'm a professor of management information systems at Drexel University's LeBow College of Business,

New analysis published today (6 February 2026) reveals a structural issue that is eroding valuations, limiting exits, and trapping founders in their businesses, with around 80% of UK private companies failing to sell. The White Paper, The Owner Dependence Problem in UK SME Businesses, published by Exit Factor, highlights how excessive reliance on founders is undermining business value across the UK SME sector. The White Paper analyses businesses with annual revenues between £3m and £30m and demonstrates how owner dependence materially restricts strategic options for owners.