Complete Leadership

and handling relationships – even if they are inclined to. Not only are

more individual managers recognizing the importance of managerial

abilities and the connection with bottom-line performance, but there

are also external pressures. Investors are unhappy with the

speculation that often accompanies annual reports and the

chairman’s statements, and are inadequately informed by the

accounts (which, after Enron, we now know can bear little relation to

reality). Investors need to form some sense of a company’s potential,

and hence its value. They are asking – sometimes directly, sometimes

indirectly – about managerial ability. They are putting a price ...