The Savvy Director Blog

“The paradox of board leadership is that, while you might earn a seat on a board of directors thanks to your abilities, knowledge, or popularity, serving well as a board member means leaving your ego behind.” – Susan Mogensen, Brown Dog Consulting

It’s not a surprise that, as a general rule, board directors have healthy egos. After all, they’re most often selected from among the ranks of successful business people, entrepreneurs, professionals, and academics....

Sometimes I hear from board directors who are struggling to find their voice in the boardroom. They don’t feel comfortable speaking up, or they can’t seem to make themselves heard.

It can be a particular challenge for newcomers to the board, or for those who feel outnumbered by virtue of their gender, age, race, etc.

If you don’t feel comfortable speaking up in the boardroom, you’ll end up feeling less engaged – maybe frustrated and resentful. Not only is that...

Most of us like to think we’re self-aware – that we see ourselves clearly. Apparently, most of us are wrong. Research shows that only 10 to 15 percent of us fit the criteria for self-awareness.

Why does it matter? For board directors, self-awareness is an important attribute because when we see ourselves clearly, we can be more effective in the role.

For the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), self-awareness ranks along with effective judgment and integrity as one of the...

Critical thinking is a key skill for board directors. But does that mean a director is expected to be constantly negative, cynical, and hyper-critical?

Not at all.

Critical thinking isn’t about criticizing. It’s about how you approach problems, issues, and arguments. It’s about asking questions like ‘Why?’ or ‘How?’ or ‘What happens if?’ It’s about objectivity, having an open mind, and relying on evidence to understand what’s...

One of the first things to happen at every board meeting is the approval of the minutes of the previous meeting. Until that happens, the minutes are still considered a draft.

It’s an important step, even though it might just take a few seconds. That’s because minutes are the official record of what happened at the previous board meeting – who was there, what decisions were made, and what actions were planned.

What exactly should you be looking for in the minutes before you...

Our too-short summer is drawing to a close, and, with that, DirectorPrep’s hiatus from weekly blog production has ended. Fortunately, the news cycle has brought us the gift of content.

Hockey Canada is the governing body of Canada’s most beloved sport - a non-profit organization with a board of volunteer directors. But don’t kid yourself – this is big business. And now it’s in hot water and its board is under public scrutiny. That makes it fodder for our third...

 

You may find the term “business model” thrown around in the boardroom.

In this Savvy Director article, we’ll explore what it means, how it differs from strategy, and what the board’s role is, and what directors need to know to fulfill their role with respect to the organization’s business model.

And if the board you serve is in the non-profit sector, not to worry. There’s plenty here for you as well.

What is a business model?

The term business...

This is the last in a series of four Savvy Director articles dealing with various aspects of board and director evaluation. The first two articles in the series, “From Compliance to Improvement” and “From Evaluation to Action,” explored the board evaluation process, and the third, “Evaluating the Individual Director,” dealt with director self-assessments and peer evaluations.

When it comes to the board of directors, board meetings are where pretty much...

This is the third in a series of four Savvy Director articles dealing with various aspects of board and director evaluation. The first two articles in the series, “From Compliance to Improvement” and “From Evaluation to Action,” explored the board evaluation process. The fourth will deal with meeting evaluations.

We’ve spent the last two Savvy Director articles delving into the process of evaluating the board of directors – looking at areas such as...

This is the second of a series of four Savvy Director articles dealing with various aspects of board and director evaluation. The first article in the series, “From Compliance to Improvement,” explored various approaches to the board evaluation process. The third and fourth in the series will deal with individual director evaluations and meeting evaluations.

“The truth is that every director wants to serve on a great board. Every Board Chair wants to lead a great board....