The Savvy Director Blog

This is the third of three articles on the topic of human capital. The first, Overseeing “Our Greatest Asset”, dealt with the board’s role in Human Capital Management and the second, The Talent-Savvy Board, dealt with Talent Management. In this article we explore the importance of organizational culture.

An organization’s culture can make or break a brilliant strategy and build or damage the careers of experienced executives. A positive culture that aligns well with strategy can produce innov...

 

I came across an excellent opinion piece written by Ram Charan, a world-renowned business advisor, author, and speaker who has spent the past 35 years working with many top companies, CEOs, and boards. He’s known for cutting through the complexity of running an organization in today’s fast changing environment to uncover the core problem that needs solving.

Ram Charan’s article in the newsletter Corporate Board Member Briefing, is about the five lessons a board can learn from the recent deba...

It’s important for an organization to have clear goals. Goals are where the organization wants to end up, but it needs a strategy to get there. If the goal is the destination, then its strategy is the travel plan.

When faced with a fork in the road, a travel plan answers the question Which road should we take? And it answers many other questions too, such as Which routes will we avoid? What vehicle will we use? How fast will we travel? Who will navigate? Who will be along for the ride? And ho...

Have you ever served on a board with a director you’d consider ideal? Someone you can’t wait to have in the boardroom, to engage in conversation that’s forward thinking, inspiring, and infused with values and goals aligned with the organization you both serve?

If you haven’t experienced that yet, I sincerely hope you do at some point, because there’s nothing like it. No matter your colleague’s background, they come prepared - ready to participate in the board discussion. Maybe not for every t...

When it comes to executive compensation, it’s best to be cautious about giving advice. There’s a great deal of variation across industry sectors and geography, a multitude of designs available, and many different factors to consider.

Yet the board of directors is ultimately responsible for making executive compensation decisions. It’s an important responsibility because having the right plan is a key factor in driving organizational performance.

Given these stakes, how can savvy directors...

Organizations are becoming more and more dependent on third parties to provide the services they need to stay in business – from IT to accounting, from customer service to HR, and more. And the more we rely on third parties, the more important it is to evaluate and manage our exposure to associated risks.

The board of directors plays an important role by ensuring there’s a focus on effective third-party risk management before problems arise from the increased risk exposure.

What do we me...

For me, reading and learning about artificial intelligence (AI) has been like drinking from a firehose. I could choose to ignore it and get a nice glass of water from the filtered jug in my fridge. But that wouldn’t end well.

Instead, I’ve been learning that boards today aren’t yet seeing AI as an important education topic for their meetings or board retreats. There’s some curiosity around ChatGPT, but otherwise little sense of urgency. In my view, that’s a mistake.

Does it get your attenti...

Businesses naturally progress through different stages as they grow and mature. So do non-profit organizations. Their boards of directors need to change along with them, otherwise there’ll be a serious mismatch between what an organization needs from its board, and what the board can actually deliver.

As a board moves through these stages over time, it requires a changing set of attributes and competencies from its members. As a director, you’ll be more engaged and more satisfied, and you’ll ...