My
favorite lecture this year was led by guest speaker Casandra Pan. Casandra is
the former president of Fenner-Dunlop Americas. I enjoyed this presentation mostly
because she didn’t just focus on talking about her career, but also how anyone
has the potential to become a CEO. She was not a business major, and she never
planned on owning her own company or being the president of one when she was in
school. This really moved me, because it let me know that I’m not stuck in
whatever career path that I choose.
Working
in a publically traded company is not easy, and it’s even harder to be the
president of one. When working for a publically traded company, you have two
main jobs; to eliminate the incentive for shareholders to file lawsuits, and to
boost the incentive for directors to spend time with their company in order to
increase its long-term value. While these jobs might pay well, they can take a
lot out of you. In the article Why
Sane People Shouldn’t Serve on Public Boards, William A. Sahlman said
that the position on a publically traded company’s board would have taken time
away from his family, his job, and himself. These people have to constantly
work to keep the interest of their investors, and that’s why people in this
business do not keep their position for long.
Casandra also talked about mergers
and acquisitions, which is covered in the textbook. A merger is when two
companies combine to form a new company, and an acquisition is when a company
is purchased by another company. This topic related to Casandra’s work, because
Fenner-Dunlop was acquired by Michelin for over $1.8 billion.
No comments:
Post a Comment