Companies seeking to expand their investor base these days often face a tough question with no single correct answer: Should senior management make time to meet with hedge funds?

Executives of companies with active investor relations programs might be considering whether to trim activities or "hunker down," given the choppy stock markets. They shouldn't.

Somewhere right now a group of IR/PR corporate staffers are sitting in a conference room vigorously debating how best to handle their company's annual report.

Each year, a handful of companies that believe the market has not fairly valued their stock decide that the time is right to "explore strategic options," often a euphemism for putting the company up for sale.

While it takes many qualities to make a great leader, the ability to persuade has to be near the top of the list. In politics, examples abound, from Lincoln to Churchill, from Gandhi to John Kennedy.

If the devil is in the details, we are witnessing the devil at work when it comes to the practical impact of Reg FD.

Can you imagine America looking to Jerry Lewis to determine future U.S. foreign policy? Or waiting with bated breath to hear Jay Leno's take on immigration legislation?

Sitting through a series of presentations aimed at money managers, I was struck by a troubling similarity that ran through each: the "So what?" question was often left unanswered, leaving a dangerous gap between the speaker and the audience.

I have a confession. Sometimes when I am traveling and unable to sleep, I turn on the TV and channel surf. In those early morning hours, very little holds my attention, not even a Seinfeld rerun. Instead, I end up watching a sermon on a religious channel.

Two recent and apparently unrelated events are further evidence of a tectonic shift under way in financial news.