Better Ingredients. Better Governance.

This weekend, the Wall Street Journal included the opinion of John Schnatter on the current financial crisis.  For those of you who do not recognize his name, Mr. Schnatter is none other than "Papa John" of the famous pizza franchise, Papa John's.   As Chairman of the Board at Papa John's International, Inc., Mr. Schnatter points out that the failings of the many corporations that were involved in the carnage started in the boardroom.   With weak oversight, these companies did not possess the strong level of governance required to hold the CEO accountable as the bubble expanded.  Mr. Schnatter explains,

"As our nation works its way through this crisis, and we look for explanations as to how we reached this point and how to avoid another crisis in the future, let us keep in mind that a significant set of checks and balances -- ultimately ending with the boards of directors -- has failed."

Checks and balances must be improved, beginning with the board and ending with strong controls throughout the enterprise.  As Papa John himself says, better ingredients lead to better pizza and, in the case of enterprise risk management, better governance.