I've been privileged to attend several meetings hosted by SMU in the past few months that featured outstanding CEO presentations. They've included:
- James Donald, president, chief executive officer and director of Starbucks, co-presenting with David Pace, executive vice president, Partner Resources
- Alan Boeckmann, chairman of the board, chief executive officer of Fluor Corporation, jointly hosted by SMU and Ernst and Young
- Myron (Mike) Ullman, chairman of the board, chief executive officer of J.C. Penney Company, Inc., co-presenting with Mike Theilmann, executive vice president, chief human resources and administration officer
The sessions including the HR executives talked about the importance of HR as a strategic contributor to the business. Starbucks is hiring 400 people per day, according to Mr. Pace, and HR management is core to their global success as a business. Both Startuck's executives spoke of the life changes that Starbucks careers have made for many of their employees. One very notable and commendable commitment made by Starbucks is to offer health care benefits to all employees. That benefit is their largest corporate expense, and they continuously pursue effective ways to enhance the benefit while reducing the cost.
The Symposium continued through Day three with the same outstanding quality of information and presentation as before. The highlights of the day, for me, were the presentations on strategic technologies for 2007 and on working with boards of directors.
In recent consulting engagements, KMC has repeatedly dealt with the impact of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) on businesses. Whether a business is creating new processes or improving existing processes, SOX compliance must be an integral part of all deliverables. 
The merging of two companies & their cultures is always a complex challenge, even if there are people within who have worked for both entities and know the industry. If you begin with experience and business knowledge, then the goal becomes to create teamwork, effective processes, focus, and opportunity for innovation. If you are combining people and cultures for the first time, or you sense inflexibility, the priority must be team building or strengths analysis in order to create a working baseline. After establishing the team’s strengths, move to determine innovation opportunities, rather than process analysis, which is often the next best step. 
