RE:RE:Trial and error True about the board people, one should diversify when choosing board members in order to cover multiple competence areas to the benefit of the company. Furthermore, the board should govern and steer the company in the right direction. The CEO should report performance to the board on a regular, quarterly, basis. My view is that the board people in Sirona are very much names on a paper and that Howard is running the company very much as he likes without much board interference and governance towards long term goals. The antiviral excursion is an example of such lack of governance. The company must not cover activities outside focus areas, even if sponsored with government funds. They should focus on the essentials in line with the business plan.
In all small organisations, there is a risk related to dependency on key personnel. There is a risk, basically, in all core positions of Sirona, if it would turn out that someone in the management group is not doing a professional job. In the case of Howard the risk is very much dependent on how well he knows himself. I just know Howard through the Youtube interviews, but I am sure that he has plenty of compentencies, even though he has also shown a lack of basic industry and business understanding, as stated earlier.
As I understood it, the former CEO, Neil, has negotiation skills (he is no MD). Whether Howard himself has these skills remains to be seen. Perhaps it would be good for the company to hire a negotiator when negotiating terms with majors. From my experience, MDs are not necessarily sound negotiators, typically they have other competencies.