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.
If you're interested in upping your game at the board table, no matter the size of your board or the type of organization you serve, subscribe below to receive a bi-weekly link right in your email inbox.
Sharpening the Saw
“Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have – you.” – Stephen R. Covey
It’s been 30 years since Dr. Stephen R. Covey published his bestselling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, but it’s still going strong. And one of the most enduring of Dr. Covey’s seven habits is to ‘Sharpen the Saw.’ It’s about taking the time for self-renewal - constantly improving to become our best selves.
For the...
The Savvy Director Celebrates 100
“This is a place for us to engage on topics that can help us on our respective journeys toward becoming savvy board directors – directors who are always prepared for our board meetings, ready to...
The Board's Campfire
Risk Governance Revisited
Recently we re-published an earlier blog post, “What do I need to know about risk?” and shared The Savvy Director Guide to Risk with our subscribers as well as our network on LinkedIn.
Of course, there’s no way that a single blog post can cover the full breadth of a complex topic like risk. After all, there are entire books and courses of study devoted to the subject. Comments from some of our Savvy Director readers gave us great ideas for a follow-up blog on the topic.
...
Where should I sit?
If your board is now contemplating the transition from virtual meetings back to in-person ones, you may once again be confronted with the dreaded decision, “Where should I sit?”
Okay, I get that this is not the most urgent and compelling matter in front of a board director, but it may actually cause you a small amount of anxiety when you're confronted with all those empty chairs. I know that, personally, I've been grateful for tent cards in such a situation.
Is there a right...
Getting a Handle on Inflation Risk
Governance in the News - Again
“Governance stories in the news tend to focus on conflict, crisis, and failure – shedding light on goings-on and...
So You Want To Be The Board Chair
The Right Director for Your Board
Last week’s blog dealt with board succession. If you read that post (A Better Way to Fill Board Seats), then you know I’m an advocate of treating board succession as an ongoing process of planned renewal.
Maybe you also noticed that we glossed over the whole topic of actually selecting the right director for your board – a process that is complicated enough to merit its own separate blog post.
So, let’s delve into the topic of board recruitment now.
Pinpointing...
A Better Way to Fill Board Seats
Does this sound familiar?
A long-standing, knowledgeable and well-respected director will soon be stepping off your board. This will create a vacant board seat.
Once the board becomes aware of this impending departure, a board committee is tasked with finding a good candidate to fill the seat. The committee scrambles to interview a few candidates and recommend one of them to the board.
The board rubber stamps the committee recommendation and – bingo! – there’s a new board...
Scott Baldwin, ICD.D
Co-founder | Director
Scott has served on boards and provided governance advisory services to boards since 2001. Private company, nonprofit and government agency boards have been his focus. He is now leveraging that expertise with his own director work while helping directors prepare for their board role so they can collaborate, contribute and influence decisions.
