Leadership - A discussion of traits, characteristics, and current news of leaders.

I am not sure that the standards for leaders have ever changed, but something has changed to allow such a rash of corporate crime to occur, often perpetuated by business executives driven by selfish greed.

Take note of an excellent article in the Washington Post that examines the issue of executive turnover.

“In a year when chief executive departures nationally have reached record levels, a number of prominent local executives have parted ways with their companies as boards of directors have asked increasingly tough questions.”

I appreciated the insight of my former corporate finance professor

"A CEO's job is much less stable than it was 10 or 20 years ago," said Steven N. Kaplan, a finance professor who studies corporate governance at the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. "One explanation is that boards are doing their jobs or they're doing their jobs more than they used to."

Better board oversight, policy changes and laws such as Sarbanes Oxley and recent high profile fraud convictions may be chasing out executives that do not meet standards of ethics, corporate responsibility and legal compliance.

"Burson-Marsteller, a New York-based public relations firm. 'It's just a very difficult time for CEOs.' Their departures reached record levels last year at the Fortune 1000 companies, she said. A survey by her group found that turnover increased 126 percent in the chief executive ranks from 2000, when 57 chief executives left, to 129 in 2005."