archiveChief Business Advisor Insider

Small manufacturers preparing for an IPO, merger, or private equity investment often face a sobering reality: investors want to see strong financial controls. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) sets the gold standard for these controls. But many small businesses assume SOX compliance means drowning in paperwork and hiring expensive consultants. It doesn't have...

Are you familiar with the term Blue Monday? According to Google, it’s typically a Monday on which one feels gloomy or dispirited, especially because one has to return to work after the weekend. It’s also a term used to represent the 3rd Monday in January, dealing with gloomy weather and the bills associated with holiday shopping....

A New Kind of Leader in Construction When you talk to Irwin Brar, you don’t just hear about buildings. You hear about people, responsibility, and a long family legacy that started long before he launched his own company. Today, as CEO of Apex Construction and COO of Ridge Apartments, Brar...

Operational risk is the silent compounding factor in alternative asset management. When it’s well managed, investors rarely notice. When it fails, the consequences extend far beyond the immediate incident-fundraising stalls, counterparties retrench, investment committees re‑open mandates, and confidence can take years to rebuild. That reality has been underscored by recent operational breakdowns in adjacent...

Research-driven thought leadership has been a corporate staple for years – so much so that, according to an expert I recently interviewed, the tried-and-true is now trying the patience of your prospective customers. According to Gareth Lofthouse, CEO of Resonant, the London-based thought leadership consultancy, an over-reliance on formulaic surveys has led to the deadliest...

Why three very different cities are emerging as the operating systems of the Global South. At first glance, São Paulo, Ho Chi Minh City, and Cairo appear to have little in common. They sit on different continents, speak different languages, and are shaped by distinct political and cultural histories. Yet...

The convergence of artificial intelligence, cloud-native architecture, and data engineering has redefined how enterprises approach digital transformation. Organizations across banking, finance, and insurance sectors are increasingly seeking leaders who can navigate complex technical landscapes while delivering measurable business outcomes. The most successful engineering leaders combine deep technical expertise with strategic vision, building...

You may consider this a strange question. What do I mean by “leadership journey”? Every now and then, it is good to look back, and take stock. Consider the journey you have walked as a leader. I mean more than a review of what you did, more than remembering the highs and lows, achievements and failures. It is deeper than that....

How the Most Grounded Leaders Win by Not Reacting.  More than 2,700 years after Homer wrote “The Odyssey,” leaders are still drawn to the story of Odysseus — not because he was the strongest warrior or dominated every battle, but because he overcame distraction, resisted temptation, and remained oriented toward...

Walk the halls of a typical Fortune 1000 and you’ll see AI-generated drafts, forecasts, and code reviews sliding into workflows with little fanfare. That pattern shows up in the year-three executive summary of Wharton Human-AI Research and GBK Collective, which tracks mainstream use, tighter guardrails, and budgets moving to proven programs in 2025. External benchmarks echo...