Talent, Strategy, Risk: How Investors and Boards Are Redefining TSR

A playbook for long-term value creation

Balancing the short term and the long term is a perennial struggle, but new developments put boards squarely at the center of this dilemma and in need of guidance. Much of the $14 trillion of assets that firms like Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street manage is now held in index funds, creating a huge class of permanent institutional investors. These so-called passive investors (unlike activist investors, passive investors don't have power to exit the fund) own almost 60 percent of the Fortune 500—and they have found their voice. Perhaps best exemplified by BlackRock's Larry Fink, these investors are stating in no uncertain terms that simply managing for short-term shareholder profit is not acceptable.

In this agenda-setting book, three leaders who have been on the front lines of these changes with boards, management teams, and the investment community challenge leaders to rethink TSR (total shareholder return). Since TSR cannot keep the short and long term in balance, McNabb, Charan, and Carey argue that boards should focus on a different kind of TSR—talent, strategy and risk—because decisions and actions around these factors, more than any others, determine whether or not a company creates long-term value.

Offering boards a playbook for managing talent, strategy, and risk, the authors explain how to: Analyze the business through the eyes of a shareholder activistHelp management take a longer view and communicate it to investorsTrack execution of long-term plans and goalsKeep major risks, such as cyberattacks and sexual harassment, front and centerRefresh board composition and create diversity to meet the new challenges

Given the new realities of corporate ownership, boards need to lead for the long term. This authoritative book shows them how.