Executive pay practices are in the news on a regular basis. Just in the past few weeks, after meeting with investors, the performance metrics for Citi...

Pierre Lassonde, one of the world's foremost experts on gold, says the only way's up for the shiny stuff. He should know and has made his fortune in the gold game. This week, he spoke at a mining seminar in Toronto organized by mining consultant Terry Ortsland, Chair of the Mineral Resource Analyst Group.

It has all come to where we are today: Loss of confidence, loss of trust, and staggering market losses. This is the time for transparency, authentic conversation, honesty and humility. Those who display this behaviour have a chance to slowly regain the shattered trust of their customers. Straight talk. Honest talk. Committed talk. No spin. No rationalization. The industry messed up, and the public wants to hear the truth.

Recently, there have been some examples of shareholder activism, at Yahoo, Research in Motion and CP Rail. What does not seem to dawn on people (at least not completely) is that if public company boards really understood and did their jobs, there would be no need for "shareholder empowerment." The only question in responding to a "concerned" or activist shareholder is: what is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders?

Whoops! There goes any progress stocks made in 2011. Stocks plunged Thursday, with the Dow tumbling 500 points just before the close, as fear about th...