Telling experience

As you may know, there is debate about the prospect of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) offering substantial rewards to whistleblowers, in much the same way as regulators do in the US.

The Financial Conduct Authority is also looking at the idea of having its own system of rewards for whistleblowing and has discussed the idea with the SFO.

However, lawyers Neill Blundell, Brent Wible and Phil Taylor of White & Case warn that the US has a “sophisticated ecosystem of whistleblowing programmes” that has taken time to develop.

“What is clear,” they write for FT Advisor , “is that, before any new UK whistleblower programmes are set into play, there are many moving parts to be aligned, and some potentially controversial policy points to be resolved.” Given it’s current trajectory, it’s legitimate to wonder how much longer the US whistleblower system will remain in place and how quickly the UK might inadvertently end up a global leader.

Tesla, do tell

Are they or aren’t they? That’s the question observers are left with this week after the Wall Street Journal reported that Tesla had kicked off a search to find a potential successor to take over the CEO’s seat from Elon Musk.

The news follows a drop in profits for Tesla’s Q1 of 71%, year-on-year, and substantial volatility in the company’s share price.

However, WSJ’s report was quickly followed by denials that were reported around the world.

The question remains though: what is the Tesla board doing to ensure Musk is focused on Tesla and not his chainsaw activities on the US federal budget. We don’t know—but we’re buying extra popcorn, nevertheless.

That’s Palliser Capital told

Activist investors don’t always get their own way. This week, shareholders of Rio Tinto, the mining giant, voted in Perth to reject a proposal from activist investors Palliser Capital to move all shares away from London to Australia.

In fact, the Financial Times reports that Palliser attracted only 19% of votes for its proposal.

That is a vote of confidence for the London Stock Exchange which has, in recent years, struggled to attract new listings and hold on to the ones it had. Rio Tinto shareholders have helped stave off more bad news. For now.

What does experience tell us?

Here’s a cheery question: do CEOs’ “early-life disaster experiences” affect workplace safety? The assumption here being that a bit of trauma at a young age would make your average corporate leader more safety conscious than someone else and possibly ensure better checks and procedures.

Apparently not. A team from Essex and Warwick universities looked at this question only to find that companies led by CEOs with a history of disaster experience have a higher injury rate, though do also have higher sales and better productivity (a comfort, though not for the loyal employee currently residing in hospital).

The team concludes that the study “emphasises the importance of considering the personal experience of executives in the context of workplace safety and risk management, which may provide information for future policy decisions, the selection process of corporate leaders and the design of safety management systems.” No kidding.