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Image from Breakfast with Larry
Have you ever wondered what the late talk show host Larry King would have been like as a board director?
Letâs say the board was questioning the CEO, and that Larry had actually prepped for the board meeting. What kind of questions would he have asked?
Given that one of Larryâs favorite questions for authors was âWhy the book?â, I imagine that his fellow directors might have heard him ask the CEO questions like:
A couple of days ago, DirectorPrep co-founder Alice Sayant shared with me that her car wouldnât start. The battery had just enough juice for auxiliary power, but not enough to turn over the engine.
Now, in our part of the world (the Canadian Prairies), a dead car battery is a fairly common occurrence in the middle of a cold winter. But it hasnât even been that cold (at least, not yet.) And not only is her car parked in the garage, but the block heater (click here if youâve never heard of a bl...
Ever since I decided to write this blog post about logical fallacies in our boardroom debate, Iâve had this refrain going through my head. Iâm hoping that by sharing it with you, I will finally be free âŚ
âLet's get logical, logical,
I wanna get logical.
Let's get into logical.
Let me hear your logic talk, your logic talk.
Let me hear your logic talk.â- with apologies to Olivia Newton John
But seriously, logical fallacies, which are flaws in the way we apply basic logic to make arguments an...
Landing the board seat you want can be very competitive, even for the most seasoned corporate director. For the dedicated and experienced non-profit director, finding your way onto a board with influence on a cause that you care about can involve an opaque appointment process, especially if itâs controlled by government. And high-profile charities have a limited number of board seats that open up on an annual basis.
So, what can you do to set yourself apart from other well-qualified candidate...
Letâs face it, a board directorâs main job is to think â to think about finances, risks, strategy and people, and about all the other matters that come before a board of directors over the course of a governance year.
And while there is room around the board table for diverse thinking styles - analytical and strategic; people-focused, data-focused and process-focused; big picture thinkers and detailed thinkers; idealists, realists, and pragmatists; risk tolerant and risk averse â thereâs no u...
Every edition of The Savvy Director works to connect you with some of the latest resources and thought leaders to stimulate your thinking and governance skills in becoming the most effective board director you can be. This week is no exception. We have a couple of great links for you on chairing a board.
Weâre also highlighting a recently released report entitled High Performance in the Boardroom, from corporate director Tony Gaffney of Lambay Group Inc. with support from Canadaâs Institute o...
Everything written since April/May 2020 about âBuilding Back Betterâ seems out-of-date. This applies especially to my own material!
Is it just me, or is this second/third wave of our little pandemic going to require more resilience for our boards and management teams than we needed in round one to lead through the uncertainty?
You can do this.
Nine months after the early onset of the virus, our communities, societies, and boardrooms are now thinking and talking more about diversity, climate...
You now have easy access to board resources all in one place. Weâre talking about curated lists of podcasts, websites, blogs, books, social media and GNDI links.
Hereâs why we did this for you.
Not long ago, we published a blog post called The Six Key Habits of The Savvy Directorâ˘. The very first key habit listed was Build Governance Skills.
I believe strongly that knowing and understanding the boardâs role and directorsâ responsibilities is an important attribute for effective board direct...
Over the years, Iâve 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 âAssumptions.â 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 order to make a de...
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 ...
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