A collection of thought-provoking commentaries and analysis from the last week …

Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and others join the Harvard Business Review to discuss the biggest threat to U.S. competitiveness. Pandit: “Globalization is both a wonderful opportunity and a big threat. … One of the things I see is that there is a competition for jobs. Every country around the world is trying to figure out how to create more jobs for its own people. We’re going to have to figure out how to compete with that.”

And more from Henry Paulson on CNBC as he compares and contrasts the economic crisis in Greece and the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy: “The one thing that we should take away from Lehman Brothers is you don’t want a big, systemic institution to fail in a messy way and you clearly don’t want that with a member-state.”

The former central-bank governors of Argentina and Mexico write from experience in The Economist on why Greece should remain a part of the euro: “The proponents of a euro-zone exit for Greece grossly underestimate its devastating consequences. Argentina’s experience should deter rather than promote the thought of exit. Nevertheless, a real problem remains: how does Greece regain competitiveness?”

Pimco’s Mohamed El-Erian in the Financial Times lauds the coupling of the Federal Reserve’s recent efforts at increased transparency and its policy activism: “The bad news is that we will not know for a while whether the Fed’s unusual activism will work. However, when the time finally comes – and here is the good news – historians will have an unusual amount of information to understand the content in which innovations and important decisions were made.”

Swiss Ambassador to the United States Manuel Sager responds in the New York Times to criticism of his country’s handling of tax and privacy issues involving U.S. citizens: “The Swiss government remains firmly committed to a timely solution that respects the United States’ legitimate interest in taxing its citizens.”

Ten tips to keep your cool at the office; four errors that can keep your employees from reaching their goals; and how to have a great relationship with your workers.

It’s all in this week’s top five most-clicked links in SmartBrief for CFOs:

• Co-workers driving you crazy? Stay sane with these tips
• 4 mistakes that can kill your team’s motivation
• Do MBAs and CPAs make better finance chiefs?
• Do your employees love working for you?
• Cost of Wall St. rescue doubles in new budget proposal

Image credit: narvikk, via iStockphoto

A collection of opinion and analysis pieces from the past week …

The Wall Street Journal weighs in — with a full dose of sarcasm — on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s move to reform the money market mutual fund industry: “Alert the videographers at National Geographic. A rare species has been sighted inhabiting the monuments of Washington, D.C. It appears that a federal financial regulator is about to propose taxpayer-friendly reform despite fierce industry lobbying.”

Steven Rattner writes in the Financial Times that talk of “capitalism in crisis” should really focus on regulatory failings: “So we must press on with fixing capitalism. My vote is that we devote equal attention to the public sector apparatus as to business.”

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, details in Politico the “Penny Plan” legislation she co-sponsored: “The Penny Plan is not based on any political ideology but, rather, on the everyday common sense in every American home. When a family budget must be tightened, the adults figure out how to reduce spending by 1 percent per year.”

Peter Wallison argues in The Wall Street Journal that the Dodd-Frank Act errs in its assertion that interconnectedness played a large role in the financial crisis: “What really weakened so many large financial institutions at the same time, and caused a market panic, was what is known to scholars as a ‘common shock’ — a sudden fall in the value of a widely held asset.”

How bad leadership leads to dysfunctional organizations; how to give someone the ax without looking like a fool; and a treasure hunter finds $3 billion booty.

It’s all in this week’s top five most-clicked links in SmartBrief for CFOs:

• How bad leaders hurt their organizations
• Peers commend Facebook CFO for a job well done
• How to fire someone without looking like an idiot
• Sunken ship could hold $3 billion treasure
• Regulators focus on shadow banking

Image credit: narvikk, via iStockphoto