WORKSHIFTER - Dispatches from the New Executive Frontier

We’re all reeling from the news in the financial markets and the fate of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and others. As the CEO of my own company, it’s hard not to put myself in the shoes of CEOs of some of the other financial services companies. “What next?” is the looming question after the upheaval many are experiencing. Sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know and that’s not a comfortable place to be. I see the areas of compliance, audit and risk taking center stage in the months to come. Right now many CEOs may not have a complete picture of potential risks for their companies. They will need to evaluate:

• Internal risk areas
• The short term resource requirements for increased compliance and risk needs
• The ripple effects throughout their organizations--where are volatile areas hidden?

Many companies will need to bring in outside expertise to fully assess compliance and risk issues. Previously I’ve referred to corporations’ need to have a roadmap to compete in a troubled economy. While companies will most likely not be taking on new and creative initiatives in the days to come, they will need to execute their critical business initiatives simply to survive. That’s the new landscape we’re all part of now.