Selected practitioner publications
HBR • 2026
Will Your Investors Support Your Strategic Pivot?
Strategic pivots often fail not because of poor ideas but because companies misjudge how attached investors are to their existing strategy. Using a five-dimension investor scorecard and transition framework, executives can anticipate resistance and improve the odds that strategic change will succeed.
HBR • 2025
When Another Company's Crisis Hurts Your Reputation
A competitor's scandal can damage your firm even when you did nothing wrong. This piece explains when reputational spillovers occur and what proactive steps — distancing signals, stakeholder communication, peer differentiation — can insulate companies before a rival's crisis becomes their own.
HBR • 2019
The CEO and CFO Pairing that Makes Mergers More Successful
M&A success depends partly on leadership dynamics at the top. This piece shows that CEO-CFO cognitive and motivational compatibility significantly predicts acquisition outcomes — a factor boards should weigh carefully when evaluating whether their executive team is built for high-stakes deal-making.
HBR • 2025
To Increase Your Shareholders' Loyalty, Understand What Matters to Them
Despite heavy investment in IR, shareholder loyalty is declining. Companies can reverse this by treating shareholders like customers — conducting systematic shareholder profiling to understand investor preferences and developing tailored engagement strategies that build lasting loyalty.
HBR • 2023
How to Attract the Right Shareholders
Not all shareholders are equal. This piece introduces shareholder strategy — deliberately attracting investors whose values and time horizons align with the firm's direction. Rather than passively accepting whoever buys their stock, executives and boards should actively shape their shareholder base.
IR Impact • 2026
Companies Can't Compete Without Shareholder Strategy. IROs Are the Ones to Lead It
Investor relations officers are uniquely positioned to lead shareholder strategy — but most organizations underutilize them. This piece argues IROs should move beyond reactive communications into proactive ownership shaping, making shareholder strategy a core competitive function rather than a support role.
HBR • 2026
Treat Nonprofits as Strategic Partners, Not Just Philanthropic Recipients
Most companies treat nonprofits as charitable recipients. This piece argues they can be genuine strategic partners — sources of community intelligence, legitimacy, and stakeholder access. Firms that move beyond transactional philanthropy unlock reputational and competitive advantages that pure giving cannot produce.
HBR • 2023
Managing Shareholders in the Age of Stakeholder Capitalism
Pursuing stakeholder goals need not alienate shareholders. This piece argues the tension is often false — with the right investor base and communication strategy, firms can advance broader social commitments while maintaining shareholder confidence, but only through deliberate alignment.
NACD Directorship • 2027
Great Strategies, Wrong Shareholders: Shareholder Strategy as a Board Imperative
Even well-crafted strategies fail when the shareholder base doesn't support them. This piece makes the case that boards — not just management — must take ownership of shareholder strategy, treating investor composition as a governance priority rather than an investor relations afterthought.