Lessons from 2008 for Management and the Board

Looking back to 2008, the executive and board leadership that did best for their shareholders focused on taking the necessary steps—regardless of then-current popularity with lenders, investors, or otherwise—to preserve their key managers and employees, to maintain liquidity, and to preserve and position the company for recapturing value as the crisis receded, including doing what they needed to in order to remain independent. Simply put, the principled and nimble boards and CEOs did best, often in the face of anxious investors clamoring for more short term fixes or exits.