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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. 

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Holistic Board PREP

prepare for meetings Jun 15, 2024

We say it all the time – ‘Preparation is the key to success in the boardroom.’ That’s why we call our company DirectorPrep. That’s why our tagline is ‘Ready for your board meeting?’

And that’s why we developed the PREP Framework that provides individual directors with a consistent, repeatable process to prepare for board meetings. We want to support directors to be ready for their board meeting every time. (Visit the PREP for Success page on...

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D&O Insurance - What You Need to Know

In our last Savvy Director blog, we explored how a director may incur personal liability because of their board service. Practicing due diligence is all well and good, but a director’s actions or inactions may still expose them to litigation and penalties. That’s why companies provide their directors with protection through indemnification.

Well-crafted Directors and Officers (D&O) insurance provides an additional line of defense. As a director, it’s a good idea not...

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Protection for Board Directors

When you join a board of directors, and throughout your service on the board, you probably won’t give much thought to the personal financial risk you’ve taken on. And yet, a past board decision could come back to haunt you.

In general, the legal structure of a corporation provides you with protection from personal liability. But that protection is limited. There are instances where directors are held personally liable for a company’s violations of laws or regulations. The...

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Talent vs. Effort

demonstrate courage May 25, 2024

 

Your success as a board director isn’t about how smart you are, it’s about your willingness to do the work. I’m calling it ‘Boardroom Grit’. Is there such a thing?

Think about the wealthy dude who gets a seat at the high profile charity board table because of the size of his family’s foundation and the potential for a sizeable gift someday … how gritty is that when he never opens the meeting materials and confirms that reality with his...

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Risk Instigator

prepare for meetings May 19, 2024

Here’s a recent email from a DirectorPrep member: “I am serving on a board that does not have much understanding of risk management. What suggestions would you have to get the discussion going?”

That’s a great question from a risk instigator – a board director who’s looking to find a way to push their risk management rock up a hill when their fellow directors don’t see much value in having the discussion.

That’s okay. It won’t be the...

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Finance & Audit Wants YOU!

Non-financial board directors are missing a huge opportunity by not serving on finance and audit committees. I know that sounds odd if you’re particularly averse to the numbers or believe that you don’t have an aptitude for them.
 
But take it from me - a non-financial director - participating on a finance and audit committee is a far more enjoyable experience than writing an accounting or corporate finance exam. There’s no last minute cramming or pulling an...
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Boost Your Meeting PREP with AI

prepare for meetings May 05, 2024

For the modern board director, using AI to help prepare for board meetings allows you to do two things at once.

First, you’ll increase your comfort level with generative AI. Experts advise board directors to increase their awareness and knowledge of AI. One way to start is to get hands-on with an AI tool that suits your own purposes.

Second, you can turbo charge your meeting PREP, making the whole process faster, easier, and more robust.

 

Ready for Your Board Meeting?

Modern...

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Getting in Gear

I like the metaphor of “getting in gear” to refer to the topic of board engagement. It’s a familiar phrase that means “starting to deal with something in an effective way.” When a board of directors gets in gear, it starts to deal with the issues and concerns in front of it in an effective way. In other words, it makes an impact. 

To stretch the metaphor just a bit further, let’s think of individual directors as the gears. When directors are...

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What's Better than Why?

Is asking “why?” a good question for the boardroom?

A "why" question can work well during a board meeting because it can help clarify the reasoning behind decisions or actions that the organization has taken. A "why" question can also help uncover potential issues or challenges that may need to be addressed. However, it’s important to frame a “why” question in a constructive way to avoid appearing confrontational.

In the heat of the moment, framing a question...

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"If we weren't doing it now, would we start?"

prepare for meetings Apr 13, 2024

If your board is typical, there’s time set aside in the board calendar to discuss strategy – at least I hope there is! Usually, there’s an offsite strategic planning session every few years, maybe an annual board retreat that includes a strategy update, and hopefully there is time allocated on most meeting agendas to check in on progress against the strategic plan.

Over the years I’ve participated in quite a few strategic planning sessions. The board and senior...

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