Summer 2012

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Inside the Summer 2012 Issue:

Deciphering Social Media ROI
Aaron Leventhal’s company, Hero Arts, has been very active in social media for years. But it hasn’t always clearly understood the ROI of its efforts. “It’s difficult to measure if you don’t know what you’re trying to evaluate,” says Leventhal (Group 212). In this article, Alliance members discuss the murky nature of social media returns—and how to find clarity.

Alliance Community Activities
Recent Alliance CEO Community Activities included a variety of CEO events such as:  CEO Roundtables in which Bay Area CEOs and Top Teams discussed issues including “Building Great Top Teams” and “Maximizing Real Value in Your Company,” Keynote discussions with Frank Barrett, jazz pianist and professor of Management and Organization Behavior at the Naval Postgraduate Academy, on leadership improvisation; and Chip Conley, author of “Emotional Equations – The Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success,” on applying leadership through emotional awareness.

Why a Loyal CEO Can Be Deadly
Chief executives who are loyal to their lieutenants have kept many a company from hitting its numbers and have sunk more than a few. It's a particular problem for mid-sized firms, which don't have the bandwidth to support a weak link or two in the executive chain. Using results from a recent Alliance survey of mid-market CEOs and their teams, Alliance Director Robert Sher probes this phenomenon, why it happens and what CEOs can do to overcome it.

New Members
Check out our newest Alliance members, who run a wide range of companies in industries such as reputation management, LED modules, chemical management software, injury treatment systems, web interfaces for children, employment law compliance and many more.

Upcoming Events
We've got some great events coming up, including our Alliance Spring Dinner; CEO and Top Team Roundtables on “Selling the Business – Preparing, Courting, Cashing Out” and “CEOs Deserve to be Rewarded Too”; and keynote events with John Hamm, author of “Unusually Excellent,” Brian Pretti, managing editor of ContraryInvestor.com, and Stanford University Professor Bob Sutton on his school’s research on scaling up excellence.

Also inside: Member News; our CEO Roundtable with the European CEO Collaborative Forum (CEO-CF), photos of recent Alliance events; and more. Download it now!