The Savvy Director Blog

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 possibility of being...

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 off-topic comments and rabbit-hole questions?

Today’s S...

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 last time directors view risk management as nothing more ...

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 directors ne...

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 appropriately engaged, they work together to change...

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 carefully is easier said than do...

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 management get together to deci...

When we join a board, whether or not we have prior experience as a director, we all hope to ‘hit the ground running.'

We want to make a difference sooner rather than later.

And our boards share that wish. They want to set up their new directors for success – feeling comfortable and able to make a contribution early on. That’s why many boards hold an orientation session – a few hours devoted to helping new directors get on their feet.

I set out to find out what a new director can do to ensur...

A week or so before a board meeting, savvy directors start their PREP work to make sure they’ll be ready to take an active part in the meeting and add real value to the board’s discussions. Part of their PREP work is compiling a list of potential questions to ask – the kind of great questions that get to the heart of issues and help the board move forward.

The management team is probably thinking about questions too. What questions might they have for board members that will help draw out th...