David Cote on corporate governance
From Winning Now, Winning Later, with David Cote (Success, Leadership, Business, Honeywell) · · The Action Catalyst
“Accounting was our primary information system so if we couldn't rely on what was coming out of the accounting system we would make bad decisions because we would think things were more or less profitable than they actually were and we needed to start there.”
On , David Cote, Former Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Honeywell, spoke about corporate governance during Winning Now, Winning Later, with David Cote (Success, Leadership, Business, Honeywell) on The Action Catalyst.
About David Cote
David Cote, former chairman and CEO of Honeywell, appeared on the podcast "Action Catalyst" in September 2022 to discuss his book "Winning Now, Winning Later." During the interview, Cote described his approach to balancing short-term performance with long-term investment, stating that while he could grow earnings at 14 percent, he chose to grow them at 10 percent in order to reinvest the difference into initiatives such as globalization, new products, and process improvements. He also noted that telling investors or a boss that performance will be poor for three years before improving is typically not well received, as they may seek alternatives in the meantime. Cote also discussed the importance of reliable accounting systems, saying that accounting was Honeywell's primary information system and that unreliable data would lead to poor decisions about profitability. He reflected on his tenure at Honeywell, where he grew the company's market capitalization from approximately $20 billion to nearly $120 billion, and he encouraged listeners to connect with him on LinkedIn.