The Savvy Director Blog

Board development is a process. It’s designed to provide board members with training and support to enhance the skills and effectiveness of every director, no matter where they are on their governance journey.

With a good board development plan, the board collectively will do a better job at fulfilling its stewardship role.

That sounds straightforward enough. Yet, when I talk to some board directors and management teams about board training, they roll their eyes and I hear comments...

Here’s a familiar scenario for most board directors. You’re reviewing management reports in preparation for an upcoming board meeting. There’s a report on a just-completed project, or maybe a proposal for a new one. You take a quick look. Ho-hum. Nothing new there. It’s just as you thought – the project was a success and the proposal makes sense.

Maybe you’re right. Or maybe it’s confirmation bias at work.

Confirmation bias has a profound impact on...

With this kickoff 2024 edition of The Savvy Director, we’re highlighting boardroom trends that governance experts have been writing about lately.

If you’re like me, you’ll find that some resonate, others not so much. Hopefully, this will give you a running start as you consider which trends apply to your board, and which can be set aside for the time being.

I have a hunch you’ll find some interesting trends that could be tweaked to adapt to your board’s...

We all believe that groups make better decisions than individuals. There’s power in numbers, isn’t there? Otherwise, a board of directors might just as well consist of one person.

But is it true? Do groups really make better decisions?

How do groups go about making decisions, anyway? More importantly, how should they be making decisions to improve the odds of achieving the best outcome?

And what is the boardroom reality when it comes to decision-making? Do boards really make...

 

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...

Recently, I had the opportunity to hear author Brian Hayward speak about his new book, The Great Chair: A Window on Effective Board Leadership. I was particularly struck by Brian’s comments on the topic of trust in the boardroom, and how it links to the ability to influence others.

Brian’s book is all about board chairs, and why they are more important than ever for effective governance, so his writing reflects the importance of trust in the board chair’s relationship to...

In board governance, the issue of conflict of interest never goes away. The thing is, for some reason it’s way easier to spot someone else’s conflict of interest than it is to spot your own.

As a director faced with a board decision, the need to be free of conflict of interest arises from your fiduciary duty – your duty to govern in the long-term best interests of the organization. A conflict of interest occurs when you have interests that could influence the way you act or...

I’m sure you’ve seen it happen. The board decides to hold an in camera session – or as it’s known in the US, an executive session - clearing the boardroom of all staff.

Outside the closed door, staff perceive it as a signal that something ominous is about to happen. They start to speculate about what’s going on. Is the CEO in trouble? Has something scandalous occurred? Is the company threatened?

Inside the boardroom, the questions are less earth-shaking. How...