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Here are five choice articles from the business press to start off your work week. I'm pointing you articles about CEO succession, Microsoft, financial innovation, the future of manufacturing, and irritating management gurus

From Reuters: Why Does CEO Succession Planning Produce So Few Successors?
""The past year and a half has been a real wake-up call for many boards of directors who have taken their leadership of succession planning to the next level," says Stephen Miles, an expert in leadership succession issues and Vice Chairman and Managing Partner, Leadership Advisory, at top executive search firm Heidrick &Struggles."

Wally's Comment: The headline on this might have been "Why does CEO succession planning produce so few successes? Either one is a good question, whether you're talking about large or small business. And neither one has a good answer.

From the Toronto Globe and Mail: Microsoft hopes to put botched launch behind it
"Even Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, a showman of the highest order, had to resort to understatement when it came time to describe just how badly Microsoft's last operating system launch had gone."

Wally's Comment: In the same way that Texans remembered the Alamo and Americans in the Spanish-American War remembered the Maine, Microsoft is remembering Vista.

From the NY Times: Wall Street Follies: The Next Act
"It certainly sounded good. Hoping, perhaps, to persuade a dubious public that curbing reckless business practices is indeed a Washington priority, the Obama administration and Congress produced a hat trick of financial reforms last week. The outlines of a consumer financial protection agency emerged from the House Financial Services Committee. The House Agriculture Committee spelled out ways to regulate risky derivatives trading, and the United States Treasury’s compensation czar announced his plan to rein in runaway executive pay at seven companies that, in total, have received hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer help within the past year. Not to be outdone, the Federal Reserve announced plans late Thursday to review pay practices at the nation’s largest banks. It all left the question, would it make Wall Street safe for America?"

Wally's Comment: Gretchen Morgenson sets out to answer the question, "Will regulation and the government protect us from the dark side of financial innovation?" You may already have an answer, but the column is worth a read for the delicious detail and cogent reasoning.

From Industry Week: The Future of Manufacturing 2009
"Manufacturing leaders chart the impact of the recession and identify the opportunities and risks facing the U.S. manufacturing sector in the years ahead."

Wally's Comment: The manufacturing sector seems to produce the most thorough and thoughtful reports about what the future may hold. Here's another one.

From the Economist: The Three Habits of Highly Irritating Management Gurus
"Mr. Covey has been stretching his brand since 1989, when the publication of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” turned him into a superstar. He followed up with a succession of spin-offs such as “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families” and “The 8th Habit”. He is also the co-founder of a consultancy, FranklinCovey, that markets success-boosting tools and techniques. So far the original “7 Habits” has sold 15m copies in 38 languages and three of Mr. Covey’s other books have sold more than a million copies. His stroke of genius was to blow up the wall between management and self-help."

Wally's Comment: You will probably learn something when you read this quintessentially Economist column pointing out the irritating habits of management gurus. The first one is "presenting stale ideas as breathtaking breakthroughs." You'll probably laugh at least once, too.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.