Zoe Cruz, once one of the most powerful and highly paid women on Wall Street before her sudden ouster from investment bank Morgan Stanley in 2007, was jarred out of her comfort zone after 25 years with the firm. The experience helped her grow as a person, she told the Women in Management banquet audience.
Having substantial cash on hand enabled Danaher Corp. to fund the acquisitions of 18 companies in 2009, "In 14 of them, we had little or no competition," Daniel Comas, MBA '91, vice president and chief financial officer of the firm, told a Stanford Graduate School of Business audience.
Today's business leaders must gird themselves for an increasingly turbulent business world, Jeff Immelt, chairman and CEO of General Electric, told MBA students. Pushing for change rarely makes you popular with investors or employees.
More than 30 years after the darkest chapter in its history, Cambodia remains a damaged and fragile society, Youk Chhang, an expert on the Cambodian genocide and the man leading the Documentation Center of Cambodia told an audience at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Ted Turner, who 30 years ago heralded the Information Age by founding CNN, has turned his focus to developing ways to stop global warming, encourage energy conservation, and stem population growth. He challenged MBA students to find solutions because "We've got to take better care of the planet."
His career has taken Jonathan Reckford, MBA '89, from corporate leadership to his current post as chief executive officer with global nonprofit Habitat for Humanity. His success, he says, comes from following his faith and his heart.
The economic resilience of developing nations during the world economic crisis has been encouraging, Stanford Graduate School of Business economist Michael Spence told a student audience, but ongoing global growth needs an integrated financial strategy. Spence heads the Commission on Growth and Development.
Two Stanford experts on the finance industry distinguished between ethical and legal issues during a public analysis of the Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit against Goldman Sachs' allegedly fraudulent Abacus deal. Both came down in favor of stiffer regulation of derivative markets.
Even when the news is bad, helping employees understand reality leads to success, American Express CEO and Chairman Kenneth Chenault told a business school audience.
