Weekend Digest: The Women’s CEO Edition

For our weekend business and political readers.

TWO WOMEN CEOs FOR TOP COMPANIES DO RARE THING
According to the Wall Street Journal, women make up only about 3% of CEOs for Fortune 500 companies, so it’s rare when they are involved in a merger and acquisition, and even rarer when it’s two women CEOs facing each other across the table in a merger.

That happened this past week between two major media companies. So how did it play-out?  Here is one of the CEO’s reaction to the $1.5 billion acquisition deal.

Asked if there was anything unique about the negotiations between two female CEOs, Ms. Martore said it was possible to reach an agreement with “a lot less drama” than typically encountered in a corporate deal.

What media companies do CEO Gracia Martore and CEO Dunia Shive represent (one of the companies owns local TV station KTHV), what are the details of the deal, and how big will this make the acquiring company?

The Journal has the full story at this link.

IS THE PAY-OUT FOR BEING ON THE ABC SHOW ‘SHARK TANK’ WORTH IT TO OWNERS?
You may have seen it and know how it goes, but on ABC’s show ‘Shark Tank’ business owners pitch their companies to a group of high-profile investors, including billionaire Mark Cuban. How much of their business do these owners have to give up for being on the show and is it worth it? A current post from Forbes discloses those answers.

The idea is that exposure to seven million viewers, along with business advice from top entrepreneurs, is worth that much. Instinctively, this strikes me as a bad deal — another example of founders undervaluing their equity and future earnings early in the game.

That analysis is from the writer of the post, J.J. Colao, but are the owners that appear on the show in agreement and what has all that exposure done for their businesses?  Click here for the surprising facts.

THE TIME HAS COME FOR A NEW EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE COMPACT
A most intriguing story from Harvard Business Review compares the traditional employer-employee relationship in the good-ole-days, which it says has been “demolished” by the new compact system.

For most of the 20th century, the compact between employers and employees in the developed world was all about stability. Jobs at big corporations were secure: As long as the company did OK financially and the employee did his or her job, that job wouldn’t go away. And in the white-collar world, careers progressed along an escalator of sorts, offering predictable advancement to employees who followed the rules. Corporations, for their part, enjoyed employee loyalty and low turnover.

Then came globalization and the Information Age. Stability gave way to rapid, unpredictable change.

What are those massive changes, and how is it affecting America’s white-collar work force? The story’s three authors say enough-is-enough and are proposing a new deal, a re-aligned employer-employee compact they say makes more sense, and consequently more dollars in the long-run for both employees and employers.

Find out their solutions by going to this link.

POWER BEHIND POWERPOINT TO MAKE YOUR PRESENTATIONS POP!
Ragan.com points out that PowerPoint is now 25 years old and although utilized across the world daily, perhaps presenters could look elsewhere for more presentation pop.

The good news is you’re no longer limited to PowerPoint. There are dozens of online tools that either work with PowerPoint files or let you start from scratch to create and deliver presentations that will wow your audience.

Want 19 free tools to impress your audience? Click here to get them.

HILLARY CLINTON’S NEW PRIORITIES
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke this past week to a Clinton Global Initiative conference “outlining her priorities now that she’s officially part of the organization.”

In one of her most high-profile speeches since she left her post as Secretary of State, Clinton said she’ll focus her attention on three causes that have been close to her heart.

What are those causes that will affect women, children, and the economy? POLITICO has the story at this link.

NRA TARGETS FORMER DEMOCRATIC SENATOR ALLY
In a blistering ad attack against West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, the NRA ad “plays footage from one of Manchin’s 2010 campaign ads for senate, where the West Virginia Democrat boasts his NRA endorsement as he loads a rifle and shoots a copy of the cap and trade bill, while saying he’ll ‘protect our Second Amendment rights’.”

“That was Joe Manchin then. But now, Manchin is working with President Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,” an announcer says. “Concerned? You should be. Tell Senator Manchin to honor his commitment to the Second Amendment and reject the Obama-Bloomberg gun control agenda.”

In a statement to POLITICO, Manchin defends the bill and said he is still ”the same proud gun owner and NRA member that I have always been.”

Manchin co-sponsored the failed gun control bill, and so how is he countering this attack as he moves forward still a “champion for gun control legislation”?  POLITICO has details at this link.

MEMORIES OF TIM RUSSERT
It’s been five years since former NBC Meet the Press moderator Tim Russert died at 58 from a heart attack. NBC News has taken a very special look back at his stellar career.

In a special segment of Part 2 of the new Meet the Press eBook, Senior Executive Producer Betsy Fischer Martin, who worked closely with Tim for 17 years, shares some personal memories and reflections on the man behind the Moderator’s chair.

NBC has posted a preview of Fischer’s “Producer’s Notebook” and provides a link for more behind-the-scenes accounts of Meet the Press in the second volume of its eBook, ‘Meet the Press: 65 years of History in the Making’. Go to this link for these insightful behind-the-scenes accounts.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE ISSA: MORE BARK THAN BITE?
Bloomberg Businessweek thinks so. The post says California Republican Representative Darrell Issa was “supposed to be a star” who came in with guns blazing, but has been shooting blanks.

Issa, who made no secret of his ambition, took over the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, vowing to use the power of his chairmanship to stage hundreds of hearings and hold the Obama administration to account. Anticipating what he promised would be “constant battle”,” the White House hired extra lawyers and braced for the onslaught.

But Issa wasn’t the force people expected him to be.

What happened and what has he actually accomplished?  Bloomberg Businessweek reveals his track record at this link.

WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE BROWN v. THE BOARD OF EDUCATION?
It has been nearly 50 years since Brown v. the Board of Education outlawed segregation. So has the country advanced? A writer for the Washington Post had this to say.

Demographics have changed so much since then that for the first time ever, whites who are not Hispanic recorded more deaths than births last year. Yet even now — and even without Wallace standing there, blocking people and progress — an outrageous number of public schools remain monochromatic.

About one in four white public school students attends a racially isolated school, as does one in five black students.

The Post reports on how two Alabama teachers from separate “isolated districts” collaborated on bringing their students together for a production of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” They called it, “Our Mockingbird” and a documentary film was produced about what happened.

A screening of the film was held recently, and the Post has the story at this link.

MOBILE ADVERTISING TO THE MAX
Harvard Business Review has taken a very interesting look at how mobile advertising is rapidly changing along with tips on how “advertisers can maximize mobile conversions.” A lot of it involves “rich media that arrived on the scene” a couple of years ago.

Smartphone adoption aside, a big reason rich media display ads have become so popular with advertisers is that they produce click-through and engagement rates that are significantly higher than PCs. Premium brand advertisers such as Samsung, Nordstrom, Coca-Cola, MasterCard, Kia and Home Depot have all had great success with highly creative and interactive mobile campaigns.

Campaigns such as Samsung’s use click-through rate and engagement with an ad as their primary metrics. Samsung Mobile launched its new flagship device last year and to allow users to explore its key features, the company built an interactive ad experience. Users were invited to swipe up to reveal the ad and uncover the story of the new hybrid phone/tablet. The viewing speed — and the direction of the story itself — were controlled entirely by the user.

But some things work, some don’t says the Review depending on the type of company. What might work for your company?  Click here for expert ideas and suggestions.