Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1169964
40 POPULATION HEALTH 40 CEO/STRATEGY The Lancet Group says its editors won't appear on panels without women By Anuja Vaidya T he Lancet Group, publisher of 18 scientific jour- nals, has vowed to increase gender equity, diversi- ty and inclusion in research and publishing. Its editors took a diversity pledge to increase the rep- resentation of women and colleagues from low-income and middle-income countries among its editorial advis- ers, peer reviewers and authors. The group has added a preference for diversity in all commissioning letters and instructions to authors in its journals. The group also instituted a policy stating that no editor will participate in a panel at a public conference or event when there are no women on the panel. They also stated they will work to ensure gender balance in the events sponsored or organized by the group. The group's media team also will try to include quotes from women in all news releases, and the journals are changing up their editorial advisory boards to that en- sure half are women. "As editors and journals we are just one part of an eco- system that includes academic institutions and research funders where unacceptable gender bias is well docu- mented, and of a broader society that disadvantages certain groups to create an uneven and unfair playing field," the group's editors wrote. "But we are committed to be the change we want to see and to play our part in helping to ensure diversity and inclusion in health re- search and publishing." n Study pinpoints CEO-CFO duos most successful with M&A By Emily Rappleye O ptimistic CEOs and pessimistic CFOs together have a leadership dy- namic that is more likely to produce successful mergers and acquisitions, accord- ing to a study from the University of Miami. e researchers reviewed conference call transcripts from 2002 to 2013 for 2,356 U.S. companies. ey evaluated the language CEOs and CFOs used during those calls to determine if a CEO or CFO was optimistic or pessimistic. Words like "achieve" and "sat- isfy" were seen as positive, while words like "penalize" and "avoidable" were seen as neg- ative. ey combined CEO and CFO opti- mism-pessimism scores and compared them to 4,529 deals conducted by their firms. Four quick takeaways: 1. CEOs generally used more positive lan- guage than CFOs. 2. e more optimistic CEO-CFO pairs took on the highest number of transactions; how- ever, the return on assets was typically lower with more transactions. 3. When CEO optimism was low and CFO pessimism was high, ROA was higher. 4. e authors suggest a balance of CEO op- timism with CFO pessimism makes the ideal partnership to pursue M&A. "is points to an optimal pairing of an opti- mistic CEO who has a large risk appetite for M&As, and a pessimistic CFO who is suffi- ciently conservative and prudent to alert him or her to potential pitfalls," the study authors wrote in Harvard Business Review. n Median board director compensation hits $300K for S&P 500 firms By Emily Rappleye M any companies in the S&P 500 are working to streamline their board compensation structure, while increasing overall pay, according to a study conducted by Mercer, a human resources consulting firm. Median board compensation for S&P 500 companies was $300,000 in 2018, up 13.2 percent from 2014. The median retainer for a board director at S&P 500 com- panies in 2018 was $100,000. Board retainers jumped more than 11 percent from 2017, when the median was $90,000, after growing more slowly from 2014-17. The me- dian board retainer was $80,000 in 2014. This uptick in retainers may stem from efforts to simplify board payment structures and eliminate meeting fees to reflect that a directorship encompasses more than attending meetings. According to a Mercer blog on the study findings,"Today's corporate board member must react swiftly and effective- ly to cyberattacks, address sexual harassment allegations, and respond to stakeholders' concerns about sustainability and corporate responsibility — along with other more tradi- tional challenges like succession planning, executive pay, and financial oversight." Only 14 percent of boards used meeting fees in 2018, compared to 26 percent in 2014. n