Английский язык. Практический курс для решения бизнес-задач

Greenberg failed to…… the first rule of this new era: that directors, auditors, and….. are more powerful than ever. That shift has fundamentally altered…….. between CEOs and the advisers. At their best, these supposed guardians of……, chosen for their ability to complement the CEO and provide specific areas of……., were trusted counselors. At their worst, they were little more than sycophants. Either way, these advisers – who were always supposed to work for the……… not the CEO – usually……… their power as watchdogs only in moments of genuine crisis. But now the chumminess has given way to a more adversarial…… This new……. has helped to get rid of Boeing CEO Harry C. Stonecipher, Walt Disney CEO Michael D. Eisner, and Hewlett-Packard CEO Carleton S. Fiorina, among others.

The watchdogs are finally facing genuine…….. for their……. The Big Five in the accounting world became the Big Four after prosecutors……. put Arthur Andersen out of business for its role in the Enron scandal. Meanwhile, directors at the……. Houston energy giant and WorldCom are paying off fraud……. from their own pockets.

The result of all this is a climate of fear. Directors….. and lawyers are worried, first and foremost, about protecting their hides. The old attitude of informal…… with the CEO has been replaced by a new spirit of legalistic formality. When red flags arise, directors are quicker than ever to hire…… attorneys to…… potential wrongdoing.

That often leads to an elaborate game of shift the……. The….. of the moment is: «Put it in writing.» Some auditors are afraid even to talk to CEOs and CFOs about the appropriate accounting……… for complex………

The new…….. is making everything about running a company more difficult for CEOs. The watchdogs are playing a bigger role in……. management decisions about strategy, acquisitions, succession planning, crisis response, and what can be booked as earnings. «Life is going to be much tougher for the Imperial CEO,» says Robert S. Miller Jr., a…….. specialist. «It is what shareholders want.»

CEOs are now being managed with sticks. This is a fundamentally different…… philosophy than the one that prevailed during the bubble years, when bosses were primarily motivated with carrots – otherwise known as……. Both of these approaches were driven by the business crises: the…….. failure of corporate leaders in the 1980s, whose pay was not linked to………, and the greed of CEOs in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, whose pay was linked to………

The new vigilance will almost certainly provide some clarity in corporate governance and cut down on…….. But as is often the case, the new rules may initially go too far and create their own distinctive…… of problems. Directors, auditors, and lawyers are going to get higher…… in the future. And the……. of their advice may well decline. Why? When really tough……. arise – involving risky……, aggressive……… or gray-area accounting – CEOs have always been able to turn to board members and professionals for advice. Now candid conversations are virtually taboo.

……… is an equally important danger. CEOs can soon become……… preferring to pursue strategies that are «safe» but ultimately unwise rather than risk confrontations with…… over bolder, but smarter, moves. Kenneth G. Langone, the Home Depot Inc. co-founder, warned of the danger that America would have «the best-governed, worst-managed» corporations in the world.

In a remarkably short period of time, Corporate America has moved from the age of the celebrity CEO to the age of the……. CEO. Chief executives are still in……, but their power is much more limited. The downsizing of the CEO has led, to a certain extent, to the supersizing of the……. That’s not necessarily a cure for everything that ails Corporate America. It is a clue that successful CEOs will have to be……. builders in the future. And it should be a warning to CEOs everywhere: The age of the absolute corporate monarch, such as AIG’s Greenberg, is over.

Source: Business Week (online), April 25, 2005 (excerpts)

Terms:

consensus, environment, micromanagement, liability, cooperation, treatment, turnaround, downsizing, exercised, helm, advisers, competitive, bankrupt, set, balance of power, mentality, performance, investigate, provided, regulators, fundamental, fees, stock options, independent, corporate governance, accounting scandal, run, destroy, consolidate, appreciate, relations, shareholder value, risk-averse, expertise, motto, shareholders, attitude, failures, effectively, claims, outside, blame, transactions, stock prices, abuses, quality, issues, deals, boards, charge, shifted, lawyers, auditors

Exercise 5. Translate into English.

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