Corporate governance: Why bother?

A CEO of a major listed company once said to me: "You know, corporate governance is for the other guy."

That statement, although made half in jest, underlines two axioms I have come to appreciate about the importance and difficulties of governance.

The first axiom is that it is generally clear to most people, even if implicitly so, that corporate governance is crucial to making the world as we know it work. Our political and corporate structures are based on a closed loop system of governance.