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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. 

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

Dec 12, 2021

“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...

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The Savvy Director Celebrates 100

Dec 05, 2021
Today at DirectorPrep, we are celebrating our 100th post of The Savvy Director blog!
 
We published our very first, Why The Savvy Director? in October of 2019. Who knew how much the world would change in those two years?
 
Here’s how we introduced our new blog:
 
“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...
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The Board's Campfire

Nov 28, 2021
 
Building a great board of directors is like building the perfect campfire. You have to picture how high the flames might leap or how far the sparks could fly.
 
I’ve had this metaphor in the back of my mind for some time. I’ve always been fascinated by fires – campfires as a Cub Scout camping in the Rockies, and now wood-burning fires in the old brick fireplace of our vintage home.
 
I snapped the photo above during one of my favorite moments - early on a...
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Risk Governance Revisited

Nov 21, 2021

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.

...

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Where should I sit?

Nov 14, 2021

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...

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Getting a Handle on Inflation Risk

Nov 07, 2021
I’m willing to bet that the majority of Savvy Director readers are not economists or financial experts. And neither am I.
 
But a recent comment from DirectorPrep co-founder Dave Jaworski – following one of his board meetings – got us thinking about what the board needs to know about inflation, and what kind of questions might a director want to ask.
 
So, this week’s blog post will delve into how savvy board directors are thinking about inflation. But...
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Governance in the News - Again

Oct 31, 2021
Several months ago, I posted a Savvy Director blog about two governance stories in the news (Governance in the News.)
 
 I said then – and I haven’t changed my mind – whenever you see the words ‘governance’ or ‘board of directors’ in a headline, it’s not going to make for a heartwarming read.
 
“Governance stories in the news tend to focus on conflict, crisis, and failure – shedding light on goings-on and...
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So You Want To Be The Board Chair

Oct 24, 2021
Our last couple of blog posts have dealt with board succession planning (A Better Way to Fill Board Seats) and director recruitment (The Right Director for Your Board.)
 
But a good board succession plan isn’t just about filling board vacancies. It’s also about finding board leaders, like the next board chair.
 
So, in today’s Savvy Director post, we’re going to zero in on the position of board chair. We’re going to try to answer the questions ...
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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...

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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...

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