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The Savvy Director Blog

Welcome to The Savvy Director™ blog, a place to engage on board governance topics as you travel the path to being a savvy director. 

If you're interested in upping your game at the board table, no matter the size of your board or the type of organization you serve, subscribe below to receive a weekly link right in your email inbox.

Don't Believe Everything You Think

think independently Oct 18, 2020

Over the years, I’ve reviewed countless proposals, reports, project plans and other documents in the course of my board work and as an advisor to boards. Somewhere in the document, often buried, there should be a section labeled ‘Assumptions.’ It lists the conscious decisions taken by management to treat the unknown as known. Typically, the list of assumptions will include finances, people, resources, schedules, logistics, etc.

Articulating these assumptions is necessary in...

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Governance in the News

Whenever I spot the words ‘governance’ or ‘board of directors’ 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 – shedding light on goings-on and machinations that were not meant to be in the public eye. However disturbing, these stories make fascinating...

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Keep Your Eyes on the Prize

demonstrate courage Oct 04, 2020

Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen perform at a concert for President Obama in 2009. H. Darr Beiser, USA Today

“It is the hard days, the times that challenge you to your very core, that determine who you are.” Sheryl Sandberg, COO Facebook

 

‘Keep Your Eyes on the Prize’ is a song made famous by Pete Seeger on his 1963 album, ‘We Shall Overcome.’ It was played to keep spirits up during the 1960’s civil rights movement. Bruce Springsteen has...

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The Ripple Effect

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 it’s 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 “speak with one voice.” If there is only one voice to...

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You're Braver Than You Think

demonstrate courage Sep 20, 2020

I’ve 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 ‘the courage to do the right thing for the right reason’ 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...

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To Be or Not to Be ... Incorporated

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 ‘Unincorporated Association’ as opposed to a Non-Profit Corporation.

Initially, I have to admit I didn’t 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...

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The Six Key Habits of The Savvy Director™

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, “What are the Key Habits of The Savvy Director™?”

Whether delivering governance training to a board of directors, conducting...

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The ABCs of ESG

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, today’s topic, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance).

I don’t know about you, but lately I can’t open my email box without reading about ESG. I guess it’s time for The Savvy Director™ to dig a little deeper to find out what it’s all about and what it means for...

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Long Live the 'King'

prepare for meetings Aug 23, 2020

Lately, I’ve had a number of conversations with board directors who feel they lack a strong financial background. They’ve expressed concern about their organizations’ financial metrics during these times. Specifically, they were wondering, “What are the forward-looking numbers we should be paying attention to?”

Today’s 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...

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The Dog Days of Summer

prepare for meetings Aug 16, 2020

We’re officially in the dog days of summer. I like summer. I like dogs. So bring on the dog days.

As the old song said, ‘Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, those days of soda and pretzels and beer.’

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, that’s exceptionally hard to do. Especially...

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