Another day, another headline about executive compensation. This time it's DaimlerChrysler AG's ex-CEO Juergen Schrempp who, according to reports, will make $134 million from the sale of Chrysler Group to Cerberus Capital Management--this, after some critics argue that he was at the helm of the Chrysler deal from start to finish that ultimately lost $12.6 billion for investors. With numbers like these, no matter how you feel about a particular executive or the job they have ... Read More

This week's XM satellite radio outage is interesting in a number of ways. XM chief execs have a vested interest in remaining squeaky clean prior to their proposed merger with satellite radio competitors Sirius. They have the advantage of observing how RIM poorly handled BlackBerry outage in two countries and to learn from that. The discounts they’ve offered customers for the outage is generous. Critically now, they must fully appreciate the real take-away: that XM ... Read More

From cave drawings, to picture books, to a ghost tale spoken in hushed tones around a campfire, human beings are always interested in a good story. We begin to truly communicate when our stories have pictures that our audience can see or imagine. It is how we empathize, which is the highest form of listening. The reason I've been thinking about all of this is because of the recent testimony by Deputy Attorney General ... Read More

Today, Barry Bonds inches closer to breaking the home run record set by Hank Aaron more than 30 years ago. Baseball fans—according to some, divided along lines of race--hotly debate Bonds' record book eligibility. And, because Major League Baseball has backed itself into a corner, it is doing the only thing it can do: nothing. MLB cannot embrace Bonds because, while he hasn't been found guilty of using illegal steroids, he is surrounded by the BALCO ... Read More

JetBlue's founder and CEO David Neeleman stepped down today when his board suggested that he 'could best serve the company as a strategic visionary.'  According to the board and Neeleman, this was in the works for quite some time and has nothing to do with the February 14th flight delays. However, it's hard not to hear the message being sent:  Board members value long-term risk management over immediate crisis response.  Even nearly heroic crisis response measures ... Read More

Paris Hilton is going to jail for 45 days. But will this latest in a series of 'scandals' be a speed bump or another launching ramp in her 'career?' The rules for the rest of us are different than celebrities, particularly celebrities who are famous for being famous. My feeling is that, all judgment aside, her most recent brush with the law won't harm her brand in the short term, and, in the upside down world ... Read More