Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask

Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask......Page 5
Contents......Page 7
Foreword......Page 9
What Boards Need Now......Page 11
Question 1. IS OUR BOARD COMPOSITION RIGHT FOR THE CHALLENGE?......Page 17
How Do We Figure Out What Our Board Needs?......Page 18
How Do We Get the Right People for the Job?......Page 22
What Does the Board Succession Process Look Like?......Page 24
The Governance Committee’s Pivotal Role in Board Succession......Page 27
Key Points......Page 32
Question 2. ARE WE ADDRESSING THE RISKS THAT COULD SEND OUR COMPANY OVER THE CLIFF?......Page 35
How You Can Use Different Lenses to Examine Risk......Page 36
How a Risk Committee Helps the Company’s Preparedness......Page 44
Key Points......Page 46
The Knowable Unknowns......Page 49
How to Deal with Unknowable Unknowns......Page 53
Key Points......Page 55
Question 4. ARE WE WELL PREPARED TO NAME OUR NEXT CEO?......Page 57
Selecting the CEO......Page 59
Spotting High-Potential Leaders Early......Page 66
Preparing for the Worst......Page 70
Key Points......Page 71
Question 5. DOES OUR BOARD REALLY OWN THE COMPANY’S STRATEGY?......Page 73
Why Does Management Hesitate to Involve the Board on Strategy?......Page 74
The Content of Strategy......Page 76
Engaging the Board: A New Process of Strategy......Page 81
Flexibility of the Strategy......Page 85
Management’s Link with Strategy......Page 86
Key Points......Page 87
Question 6. HOW CAN WE GET THE INFORMATION WE NEED TO GOVERN WELL?......Page 89
What Information Should the Board Be Looking At?......Page 91
The Information Architecture in Practice......Page 96
Bring the Outside In......Page 97
Key Points......Page 99
Question 7. HOW CAN OUR BOARD GET CEO COMPENSATION RIGHT?......Page 101
Determining What Performance You Are Paying For......Page 102
Balancing Fixed and Variable Pay......Page 104
Using Your Judgment......Page 106
Working with Compensation Consultants......Page 110
Keeping a Strong CEO-Board Relationship......Page 112
Monitoring Societal Pressures......Page 113
Key Points......Page 116
Question 8. WHY DO WE NEED A LEAD DIRECTOR ANYWAY?......Page 117
How Board Dynamics Affect Governance......Page 118
Key Points......Page 130
Question 9. IS OUR GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE BEST OF BREED?......Page 133
Ensure Appropriate Board Leadership......Page 134
Use Committees Wisely—But Don’t Isolate Them......Page 136
Ensure the Board Functions Well......Page 137
Driving for Continuous Improvement and Self-Renewal......Page 139
Key Points......Page 142
Question 10. HOW DO WE GET THE MOST VALUE OUT OF OUR LIMITED TIME?......Page 143
How Can the Board Stay Focused on Its Priorities?......Page 144
How Can We Design Board Meetings to Run More Efficiently?......Page 146
How Can Management’s Reports Improve Boardroom Dialogue?......Page 147
How Much Time Should We Commit?......Page 149
Key Points......Page 151
Question 11. HOW CAN EXECUTIVE SESSIONS HELP THE BOARD OWN UP?......Page 153
What Should—and Shouldn’t—We Talk About in the Executive Session?......Page 154
Set the Right Tone for Executive Sessions......Page 156
Should the CEO Ever Be in the Room?......Page 158
How Do We Loop in the CEO After the Executive Session?......Page 160
When Should We Hold Executive Sessions?......Page 162
Key Points......Page 163
Question 12. HOW CAN OUR BOARD SELF-EVALUATION IMPROVE OUR FUNCTIONING AND OUR OUTPUT?......Page 165
Specify the Outputs......Page 166
Room for Improvement......Page 171
Results and Follow-Through......Page 174
The Importance of Peer Evaluation......Page 176
Key Points......Page 178
Question 13. HOW DO WE STOP FROM MICROMANAGING?......Page 179
What Is—and Isn’t—Micromanaging?......Page 180
How Can Directors Curb Micromanaging?......Page 183
How Can the CEO Keep the Board from Micromanaging?......Page 185
Key Points......Page 187
Question 14. HOW PREPARED ARE WE TO WORK WITH ACTIVIST SHAREHOLDERS AND THEIR PROXIES?......Page 189
Opening the Lines of Communication with Shareholders......Page 190
Seeing Through the Eyes of Activist Shareholders......Page 193
Working with Investor-Nominated Directors on the Board......Page 196
Working with Shareholder Proxies......Page 199
Key Points......Page 200
About the Author......Page 203
Acknowledgments......Page 205
Index......Page 207