What's New

Countrywide Financial borrowed $11.5 billion to rally up cash reserves in the face of a credit crisis. The nation's largest mortgage lender turned to 40 of the biggest banks sending ripples through the stock market according to The New York Times on Friday, August 17, 2007.

Traditionally, Countrywide borrowed money from banks and investors on Wall Street and when they close a mortgage they quickly sell, repeating the cycle over and over. But as defaults on mortgages made in recent years have surged, the system has started to break down.

"This is a credit crunch and crisis created independently of individual companies," said Eric Flamholtz, a management professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who previously served as consultant to Countrywide executives. "All these companies are getting crushed, some for no reason."

April 2007 - Dr. Eric Flamholtz will speak about Growing Pains and Leading Organizational Change as part of Rosen College at the University of Central Florida's Executive Education Program, Managing Changing Organizations: Visions for Volume and Growth.

February, 2007 - Management Systems will design and deliver a six-week educational program (which will be held over a period of two-years) for International dealers.

This exclusive Leadership Development Program will be customized for the participants' needs in conjunction with the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

The Program will start February 2007.

March 27, 2006 - Congratulations are in order to Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial.  Barron's presented The World's Most Respected CEO's and Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide, was listed alongside of other high profile CEO's such as Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer and Jeffrey Immelt of GE and Steven Reinemund of PepsiCo.

March 2006 - This coming September, in partnership with Inc Magazine, Dr. Eric Flamholtz will be presenting a seminar which focuses on organizational development and managing the transition from entrepreneurship to professional management.

He will be presenting on these topics on the following dates and cities:

San Francisco - September 6

Seattle - September 12

Houston - September 26

March 2006 - On May 11, Dr. Eric Flamholtz will be making a presentation titled, "Conceptualizing and Measuring Human Capital of the Third Kind: Corporate Culture" at the Human Capital Symposium in Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany.

Please click on the following conference program for more information (conference program is in German).

Human Capital Symposium Conference Program

Dr. Eric Flamholtz will speak on "Corporate Culture: The Invisible Key to Organizational Success" at the MScom Excellence Lecture Series in collaboration with the HarborClub and the UCLA Anderson School of Management and will be hosted by University of Lugano at Swiss Life Headquarters, Zurich Switzerland on Tuesday, May 24, 2005.

The MScom lecture series brings international experts to Switzerland to speak on communication topics linked to best-in-class management practices.  In addition to raising awareness of communications as a core competency in today's business environment, the presentations and discussions are designed to forge closer links between academic research and corporate practice.  The lecture series, which takes place twice per year and is sponsored by Burson-Marsteller, Swiss Life, SPRI Public Relations Institute, Bilanz, Personlich, and MScom Alumni Association offering a valuable networking opportunity for professionals.

Visit www.mscom.unisi.ch for more information on this event.

Dr. Eric Flamholtz will speak at the Second Annual Value Investor Conference on May 3, 2005.  Flamholtz will give a presentation on "The 6 Invisible Keys to Organizational and Financial Success."  The day will be hosted and moderated by Robert Miles, author of The Warren Buffet CEO.  Further information on speakers and event registration can be found at http://www.robertpmiles.com/events.html#gbbc.

March 28, 2005 - Congratulations are in order to Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial.  Barron's presented The World's Most Respected CEO's and Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide, was listed alongside of other high profile CEO's such as Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway, Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, Jeffrey Immelt of GE and Lee Raymond of Exxon Mobile.

Dr. Eric Flamholtz is writing his next book entitled Leading Strategic Change.  The focus of the book is to make a contribution to the theory and practice of leading strategic change by presenting, analyzing and deriving insights and lessons from actual programs of strategic change.

In the past, Dr. Flamholtz has utilized case studies of companies with whom he has worked.  However, in Leading Strategic Change he is going to the source and co-authoring many of the chapters with several of his current clients from his consulting firm Management Systems.  They include: Stanford Kurland, COO of Countrywide Financial Corporation, Mike McGee, CEO of Pardee Homes, Mike Perry, CEO of IndyMac Bank, Bill Kern, CEO of ORCO Building Materials, Les Brockhurst, CEO of Clark Consulting, Madhavan Nayar, Company Leader of Unitech Systems, Dan Feshbach, CEO of Loan Performance and Dr. N.G. Kannan, General Manager of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.  It presents a unique viewpoint on leadership from both perspectives; the academic as well as the executive.  The book is slated for release in 2007 through Cambridge University Press.

AND THE WINNER IS...

In November, 2004, Countrywide Financial Corporation (a Management Systems client since 1999) was honored by the Association for Strategic Planning (ASP) with the 2004 Richard Goodman Strategic Planning Award.  The award honors organizations at the leading edge of strategic planning practice.  The strategic planning process at Countrywide is based upon the Management Systems Strategic Planning Method^SM, and was first put into practice at Countrywide in 1999.  This project was championed by Stanford Kurland, COO of Countrywide Financial Corporation.  Since that time, Countrywide has made many enhancements and made strategic planning a way of life.  It is now under the direction of Mr. Alan Frelix, Senior Managing Director for Strategic Planning.

Management Systems congratulates Countrywide on winning this prestigious award!  We are pleased to have made a contribution to this award winning system of strategic planning.  For further details about the development and application of Strategic Planning at Countrywide, see Eric Flamholtz and Stanford Kurland's working paper titled "Making Strategic Planning Work" in the articles section of this website.

Management Systems congratulates Countrywide Financial for ranking second in the Barron's Annual 500.  The Barron's 500 grades how well the 500 biggest publicly traded U.S. and Canadian companies (measured in sales) have performed for investors.

Management Systems also wants to acknowledge current and past clients Starbucks ranked No. 24, Cendant (Mortgage) ranked No. 27, Amgen ranked No. 35, Navistar ranked No. 88 and Avon ranked No. 138 on this year's Barron's 500.

February, 2004 - Management Systems to host a Visioning Session with the Executive Benefits Practice Group of Clark Consulting, a New York Stock Exchange corporation that provides integrated compensation, benefits and organizational development solutions to over 4,900 US corporations, banks, and healthcare organizations.