Category Archives: Effective Boards
CEOs, Directors and Lake Wobegon
While the news is full of reports about shareholder concerns over the quality of corporate boards, it turns out that CEOs have questions too.
It’s the Lake Wobegon syndrome where 95 percent of directors think they’re doing a good job. CEOs see it differently. According to work by Heidrick & Struggles, CEOs “almost universally confide” that [...]
The Power of an Individual Director
John Gillespie and David Zweig offer “solutions” to their indictment of corporate boards in their book, Money for Nothing: How the Failure of Corporate Boards is Ruining American Business and Costing Us Trillions. In addition to their recommendations to split the chairman/CEO role, to allow shareholders to call an extraordinary general meeting, add some clout to say-on-pay, [...]
CEOs Want Effective Governance, Too
Perhaps the most surprising element of John Gillespie and David Zweig’s book, Money for Nothing, How the Failure of Corporate Boards Is Ruining American Business and Costing Us Trillions is the jailhouse interview with Dennis Kozlowski, who considers himself a victim of the times and a weak board. The authors conclude that the Tyco board [...]
Feinberg’s Approach Offers Clues to Directors
How many professionals take on a highly visible thankless task for no pay not once but twice in the most challenging decade?
Kenneth Feinberg managed to create a program that persuaded 98 percent of the 3,000 victims’ families of 9/11 to stay out of court and instead apply to his fund while dispensing the $7 billion [...]
Do the Right Thing: A Key Director Responsibility
Whether you are serving on a public or private company board, there is an important principle to guide you: doing the right thing, not just for the constituency that brought you to the board but for all the shareholders, according to Michel Feldman, partner in the Chicago office of Seyfarth Shaw, who has served on [...]
Boards Should Show Leadership in Corporate Governance
With unprecedented interest in corporate governance, the Chicago NACD Chapter panel of Holly Gregory, Fred Steingraber, Donna Zarcone and William Atwood addressed Changes in Regulation and Implications for Directors.
Panelist Fred Steingraber, former Chairman and CEO of AT Kearney and director of several US and several international boards, said the time for boards to react was [...]
Making the Most of 24 Hours
Directors unanimously agree, the pre-board package is bigger than ever before: There’s more reading. The detail is more dense. And, the issue of risk permeates every subject. Is it any wonder that both the length and number of board meetings has increased for many boards?
What were once all day meetings three or four times a [...]
