Ted Santos, Chairman of the Board of Veteran CEOs Interviews Richard Goeglein, Chairman of Pinnacle Entertainment

Corporations Need People

To say every corporation needs people is an obvious statement. Yet, every balance sheet shows people as an expense. On the other hand, buildings, land and equipment are considered assets. In an era of knowledge workers, has this mindset become obsolete? Why aren’t people considered assets as well? You can’t have a company without people. 

When the US was an

Why Is Everything Difficult?

Whether it’s learning to walk for the first time or solving complex quantum physics’ equations, it’s difficult. Yet, most people can be considered experts at walking and there are people throughout the world who are great at solving fascinating mysteries through quantum physics.

If you and I go down the list of difficult tasks like tying shoes, riding a bicycle or learning a new language, it will become apparent that

4 Important Steps to Avoid Failure

While temporary failure has its benefits, permanent failure can be devastating. Therefore, it is imperative to be able to learn lessons from temporary set backs and avoid permanent failure. To do that, you have to be clear about what you want to accomplish in your life, have a strategy/plan to achieve it, train and prepare yourself for success, and take effective action. Without those 4 steps, you are

How Do You Stretch Your Thinking?

“If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you.” ― Don Marquis

For those of you who are surrounded by people who are determined to make you really think, it is easy to blame them for the aftermath of thinking. When you really think, it can be a problem. Why? Authentic thinking is often followed by

The 5 Toughest Lessons I Learned As A CEO

By Richard Goeglein, Chairman of Pinnacle Entertainment and Former CEO of Harrah’s Hotels & Casinos 
  

Some 15 years ago I became CEO and 5% owner of a start-up Company with the purpose to develop a major Resort. It was a development which I had pursued previously -- in fact, 2 different times. I believed passionately in the concept, market, and specific location.

We raised over $850 million - $630 million debt, $250 million of equity with location/ land at over $100 million -- give or take, a $1 billion dollar development. While it was a lot of money, several participants believed

Max Pine Bio

Max Pine's career has focused on several key segments of the restaurant industry. 

 After leaving the CEO Position at Restaurant Associates, Pine founded Aries Associates, a consulting firm that provides strategic advice to CEO’s and  private equity investors on restaurant chain investments. In addition to numerous domestic assignments, Pine has consulted on restaurant businesses in England,

The 28 Most Valuable Lessons I Learned As a CEO

By Max Pine, Former CEO of Restaurant Associates, Inc.
  

As a CEO…

1. Decide whether you want to be a creative leader who takes some calculated risks or a manager who maintains the status quo. Once you decide that, don’t allow your organization to be diverted by any undertaking that is foreign to their expertise or that will not further the mission of the business. Stay focused!

2. Make short notes on the

Private Breakfast with Henry Kravis

Board of Veteran CEOs

Breakfast Forum

A Conversation with Henry Kravis

The Board of Veteran CEOs will host an intimate Breakfast Forum featuring private equity pioneer Henry Kravis, co- founder and co-CEO of the leading global investment firm Kolhberg Kravis Roberts. Richard Goeglein, the current chairman of Pinnacle Entertainment and a titan of the gaming industry, will moderate a candid discussion at this exclusive gathering of CEOs. Mr. Goeglein and Mr. Kravis will engage the audience in a lively conversation about opportunities and challenges currently facing CEOs. The discussion will include:

␣␣ Global economic issues, with views on Europe, Asia, emerging markets, and the importance of geopolitical analysis and trends

␣␣ U.S. economic issues, including views on remaining competitive, the role of credit and M&A markets, and dealing with government uncertainty

␣␣ Challenges facing CEOs today, with perspectives from KKR portfolio companies, the importance of innovation, culture, and communication, and views on public versus private company structures

␣␣ Keys to success for current business leaders, including building a strong team, understanding your strengths and weaknesses, doing business with those you like and trust, and being a leader both in and out of the office

Location

Yale Club of New York City

50 Vanderbilt Avenue New York, NY

Date and Time

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

8:00 am to 10:00 am

Agenda

8:00 – 8:30 am Registration

8:30 – 8:45 am Welcome & Introductory Remarks

8:45 – 9:30 am Breakfast and Program

9:30 – 10:00 am Q&A

RSVP

Registration Welcome & Introductory Remarks Breakfast and Program Q&A

To RSVP, please contact Ted Santos at 888.471.3660 or at tsantos@turnaroundip.com. 

Sponsored by:

About The Board of Veteran CEOs

The Board of Veteran CEOs was created to serve as a confidant to CEOs of midsize to large companies. The resource we provide is exclusive access to retired CEOs who have walked in your shoes and grown their enterprise to Fortune 1,000 status and beyond. Some of the retired CEOs who serve as Advisory Members have led companies like Dun & Bradstreet, Ben & Jerry’s, Max Factor, and Harrah’s Hotel & Casinos. In addition, some of our Advisory Members are current CEOs of Fortune 500s, including companies such as NCR and AC Nielsen. Access to the Advisory Members takes the form of roundtable discussions, one-on-one telephone conversations, and private face-to-face meetings. The roundtable discussions occur every other month. They are held over a two- hour breakfast between an intimate group of 6-8 sitting CEOs and 1-2 Advisory Members. Participation in these meetings requires a personal invitation - no exceptions.

About Akerman

Akerman is a leading transactions and trial law firm known for its core strengths in middle market M&A, within the financial services and real estate industries, and for a diverse Latin America practice. With more than 550 lawyers and government affairs professionals and a network of 19 offices, we are ranked among the top 100 law firms in the U.S. by The National Law Journal NLJ 350 (2013). We are intensely focused on innovating pragmatic, customized solutions to our clients’ most complex legal challenges.

3 Good Things About Failure

When we think of failure, we believe there is something wrong. Therefore, it is the word and situation we avoid at all costs. Some of us will lie, cheat and steal to avoid failure. Yet, in many cases, failure can

Legendary KKR CEO Will Speak to CEOs Over Breakfast

Henry Kravis of KKR to Keynote The Board of Veteran CEOs Breakfast Forum

Moderated by Chairman of Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. Richard Goeglein

Exclusive Gathering for Veteran and Sitting CEOs Hosted by Law Firm Akerman Senterfitt

NEW YORK – October 7, 2013 —The Board of Veteran CEOs, a leading organization for information exchanges, partnerships and networking among CEOs of midsize to large companies, today announced a Breakfast Forum featuring private equity pioneer Henry Kravis, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, a leading global investment firm. Former CEOs of Fortune 1000s and

Top 3 Ways to Lead a Multi Generational Organization

By Richard Goeglein

Chairman of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc. & 

Former CEO of Harrah's Hotels & Casinos

The rapid advancement of technology coupled with the major shift in demographics of the general work force will test business as never before. As Boomers retire and the Gen X, Y (20’ thru 40’s) becomes the dominant employee base, the skills to lead will require a leader who is able to adopt new ways of thinking and transform the way he or she sees the world.

There is already a significant change in the way in which major segments of the population relate and communicate.

This is also the case within most organizations – the way individuals

Richard Goeglein Bio

Mr. Richard Goeglein is a seasoned business executive who has led high-growth billion-dollar companies through mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. Along with his extensive experience in the US casino and hospitality industries, he has also worked internationally in consumer services and products sectors.

He is currently Chairman of the Board,

Who’s the Next Microsoft CEO?

Over more than 35 years, Microsoft has had 2 CEOs – Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. With Steve Ballmer’s retirement announcement, Microsoft is preparing for CEO number 3. The whole world is watching to see who that will be. As it stands, it appears it will be someone from the outside.

Tony Bates, CEO of Skype was a contender, especially since Microsoft bought Skype.  Bates now has a sense of the company culture and vision.  However, he has been removed from the list. There is concern that he has not run a large public company. And he was CEO of Skype for one year.

Stephen Elop, CEO of Nokia is another top contender, especially since Microsoft bought Nokia’s phone business.  At the same time, there is concern about his unimpressive performance while running Nokia. 

At the top of the list is

How to Think About CEO Succession Planning

By Bob Weissman
Former Chairman & CEO of Dun & Bradstreet

The overriding mandate for every Board of Directors is simply this:  Act so as to ensure the continuing success of the institution.  And, as we consider the components of a Board’s responsibility for achieving this end, the job of building a robust management succession process is perhaps the most important.

In a well-managed company there will be many competent executives who ought to be in the pool of potential successors to the CEO.

But we also know that we live in an

The Hidden Dark Side of Politics in the Workplace

There are many people with successful track records when it comes to playing the game of politics in the office. They manipulate people as though moving pieces on a chessboard. They are masterminds when it’s time to take credit for work others have done. They know exactly what to say to make others look bad. If something goes wrong, they know whom to throw under the bus. It works and it looks glamorous.

However, advancing your career is analogous to building a

Why You Should Stop Fixing Things

Whether you try to fix a person, family, corporation or country, your attempts will most likely be in vain. The approach to fix something is fundamentally flawed. That approach operates on the premise that something is wrong. And once it’s fixed, everything will be better. One of the biggest challenges to fixing a person or situation that is considered broken is that they may defend their position as right, even if they know it is ineffective.

In the case of a company, there may be merit in wanting to extinguish a culture of silos and increase collaboration. While many enterprises are successful, they are

Do You Know Which Situation Calls for Which Leadership Style?

By Bob Weissman
Former Chairman & CEO of Dun & Bradstreet

Back in the dark ages of my business school education, most of the time in class was spent on learning the theories and practices of business; marketing, financial analysis, logistics, etc. Very little was offered in the way of providing insight into the mysteries of managing people. Oh, there were case studies that asked for a perceptive situational analysis and a description of the remedial action to be taken, but it was implicitly assumed that if you could articulate an effective course of action, all parties involved would automatically step up and execute perfectly.

Of course, when I got out into “the real world”, I found that real life was

4 Most Important Jobs of a CEO

When we entered the 21st century, few expected so much change after a decade. We are beleaguered with technology advances that take us to new heights each day, erratic economic cycles and global competition. In addition, companies have grown to enormous mega corporations, larger than ever in history. And in the times of knowledge workers, covert information, once privy to only the C-suite, is readily available given globalization and widespread social media. Overlooking it all are CEOs who have become the latest

Has Your Organization Adopted The Weissman Principle?

By Bob Weissman
Former Chairman & CEO of Dun & Bradstreet

Few people will recognize the name Laurence J. Peter, but almost everyone has heard of his now famous Peter Principle.

He became widely famous in 1968, on the publication of The Peter Principle, in which he states:  “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of

How Do We End the Gender Gap?

Every day you can find a new article or interview questioning whether a man or a woman makes a better leader. At the end of the article, all that is left is one more dagger for a person to throw at the opposite sex.

The discussion of who is better is a definite way to waste a person’s brain cells. The truth is that not all

What Is a Customer Worth?

By Bob Weissman
Former Chairman & CEO of Dun & Bradstreet

I was only out of business school for a few months when I learned a fundamental lesson: How to think about the value of a customer.

I had joined a consumer products company that sold liquid household cleaner, and they had just come up with a terrific promotional idea – offering the cleaner in a glass, early American flask with images of Washington, the colonial flag, etc., pressed in the sides. The flasks came in several colors, and there were color striations and bubbles just like in real antique glass.

It was a great idea, that is – until it was discovered that the amber flasks were

The Top 2 Reasons People Are Not Successful

On the surface, there seems to be many reasons people fail. In fact, several books can be written on the subject. However, when you distill those reasons, you are, in reality, left with two. I say with confidence that most people innately know this. Yet, they spend many hours figuring out ways to disguise this intuition with excuses.

From experts in psychology to the bus boy in a restaurant, you hear intellectual explanations about fear of failure. While this assessment is interestingly close, it

A Conversation with Henry Kravis

Re: A Conversation with Henry Kravis

On November 5, 2013, the Board of Veteran CEOs will host a Breakfast Forum featuring private equity pioneer and legendary CEO, Henry Kravis, of KKR. Mr. Kravis will be the featured speaker for this exclusive CEO breakfast. This invitation-only event is limited to former CEOs of Fortune 1000 corporations and sitting CEOs of mid-cap companies. In an interview format, Mr. Kravis will discuss

How Do Businesses Thrive in New Economic Conditions?

In a previous article, I discussed a new economic reality and what companies can do to preserve jobs in a down economy. As I continue addressing this issue with former CEOs, I find myself peeling the subject in layers as though peeling an onion.

As I have stated in the past, it is easy to layoff people or close manufacturing plants when the economy slows. It seems our business schools have not considered another possibility and we are perpetually stuck with laying people off to preserve profits.

At the same time, when you examine closely, you see this method is extremely