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Whenever I spot the words âgovernanceâ or âboard of directorsâ in a headline, I automatically know the story will not be a positive one. As far as I can tell, no reporter has ever written a good news story about a board of directors.
Instead, governance stories in the news tend to focus on conflict, crisis and failure â shedding light on goings-on and machinations that were not meant to be in the public eye. However disturbing, these stories make fascinating case studies.
So today Iâm going ...
Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen perform at a concert for President Obama in 2009. H. Darr Beiser, USA Today
âIt is the hard days, the times that challenge you to your very core, that determine who you are.â â Sheryl Sandberg, COO Facebook
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âKeep Your Eyes on the Prizeâ is a song made famous by Pete Seeger on his 1963 album, âWe Shall Overcome.â It was played to keep spirits up during the 1960âs civil rights movement. Bruce Springsteen has also performed it, as have other artists. If ...
As individual directors, it can sometimes be difficult to see whether our words and actions in the boardroom have any effect whatsoever. This can be frustrating, to say the least. I've found that itâs especially hard for former CEOs, who are used to being the decision-maker in the room.
As opposed to the one person at the top of the org chart, the board of directors is a group of people, even though the board is said to âspeak with one voice.â If there is only one voice to be heard externally...
Iâve been meaning to write about governance courage for a while now. After all, it is one of The Six Key Habits of The Savvy Director.
And the Russell Reynolds research that inspired our Six Habits framework identifies âthe courage to do the right thing for the right reasonâ as one of the most important director behaviors that drive board effectiveness.
But the impetus for writing this particular blog at this particular point in time actually came from one of our Savvy Director readers, who ...
I was recently surprised, and to be honest, somewhat embarrassed, to learn a professional organization I thought I knew well was legally structured as an âUnincorporated Associationâ as opposed to a Non-Profit Corporation.
Initially, I have to admit I didnât know what that meant. In all my board and related governance training, the focus has been on corporate governance of all types: non-profit, for profit, family businesses, private companies, and government crowns, boards and agencies.
The...
Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a really effective board director? What differentiates a ho hum director from an excellent one? Which directors add real value to the boards they serve on vs. those who just occupy a chair?
In other words, what are the most important behaviors of an effective director?
Or as we would say at DirectorPrep, âWhat are the Key Habits of The Savvy Directorâ˘?â
Whether delivering governance training to a board of directors, conducting an orientation sessio...
Like many fields of human endeavour, corporate board work is rife with acronyms. Remember CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)? How about DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion)? And of course, todayâs topic, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance).
I donât know about you, but lately I canât open my email box without reading about ESG. I guess itâs time for The Savvy Director⢠to dig a little deeper to find out what itâs all about and what it means for board directors. Think of todayâs blog...
Lately, Iâve had a number of conversations with board directors who feel they lack a strong financial background. Theyâve expressed concern about their organizationsâ financial metrics during these times. Specifically, they were wondering, âWhat are the forward-looking numbers we should be paying attention to?â
Todayâs blog post sets out to answer that question. As a non-financial director myself, I reached out to some of the savvy directors in our network with the following question: âWhat b...
Weâre officially in the dog days of summer. I like summer. I like dogs. So bring on the dog days.
As the old song said, âRoll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, those days of soda and pretzels and beer.â
This part of the year has always been a time to relax, get away with the family (and the family dog), do some light reading, and generally not be bothered with what is going on in the world around us. This year, thatâs exceptionally hard to do. Especially the part about ignoring wh...
After twenty years, itâs time to say goodbye to an old friend ⌠my office chair.
We started the business together in the late â90s. We were successful. We collaborated through thick and thin â literally. Always supportive, never a complaint. Until recently.
The business has changed. Yes, weâre still helping board directors prepare for board meetings, so they are ready to collaborate, contribute and influence decisions. Thatâs why our DirectorPrep.com⢠catchphrase is âReady for Your Board Mee...
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