Boards of directors have slowly begun to recognize the value of diversity in deliberation. While they still make up only a fraction of total directorships, the number of women and people of color in America’s boardrooms has grown significantly over the past five years. But representation of gender, race, religion, age, sexual orientation, and disability in corporate governance has a long way to go. Let’s take a closer look at the value of representation, in the boardroom to learn what your organization stands to gain when it makes diversity a priority.
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Writing a Strong Charter for Your Committee
A key objective of any board of directors is making the most effective decisions as efficiently as possible. But the subjects and problems boards are asked to weigh in on are complex and often require a broad range of expertise to properly address. Committees help ensure each item receives a fair amount of discussion and consideration. Most boards require a formal charter be written before a new committee can be created. Let’s take a closer look at how to write a great committee charter and the role they play in governance.
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Do Board Characteristics Matter to the Ethical Reputation of Financial Institutions?
Financial institutions have faced increased scrutiny surrounding their ethical practices following the Great Recession of 2008. This has placed additional pressure on boards of directors to manage the ethical reputation of the banks they serve. In an article published in the Journal of Business Ethics, researchers Emilia and Sami Vähämaa, Laura Baselga-Pascual, and Antonio Trujillo-Ponce hypothesize that a positive relationship exists between director characteristics favoring effective oversight and the ethical reputation of their financial institutions.
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Does Your Board Need a Cybersecurity or IT Committee?
It’s 2019. By now, your board of directors is probably aware of the importance of cybersecurity and information technology. But the increased emphasis surrounding the rapidly-evolving digital landscape is nothing new. Deloitte’s 2016 Board Best Practices Report found that 8% of boards considered “Technology and Data Analytics” among their top three priorities for the coming year. 22% of boards listed “Cybersecurity” in their top three priorities (up 6% from their 2014 report). But is increasing emphasis on cybersecurity and information technology (IT) oversight enough to warrant the chartering of a committee? Let’s find out if your board needs a cybersecurity committee, IT committee, or both!
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What do Board Members Need to Know About Audit Committees?
Audits can be a headache for any organization. For banks and other companies in heavily-regulated industries, audits can quickly eat up a disproportionate amount of a board’s time and focus. Chartering a specialized committee can ease the headache of routine audits. So let’s take a closer look at everything your board needs to know about audit committees.
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Why Banks Value Navigability in Board Management Software
When your bank has the opportunity to gather industry veterans with centuries of experience between them into a single room to make decisions that affect its future, every moment counts. Working fast should never be a goal when “fast” comes at the expense of making well-informed decisions. However, streamlining aspects of your board meetings leaves more time for directors to deliberate on important topics. There are, of course, many ways to streamline your board meetings. Today, however, we’re going to focus on just one: navigating your governance technology.
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Using the “5 Whys” Technique with Your Board of Directors
In past blogs from Directorpoint, we’ve discussed using “Ishikawa” or “fishbone” diagrams to prioritize a board’s approach to problem-solving. One of the reasons fishbone diagrams are so successful is that they are structured to identify the root of a problem. The “5 Whys” technique strives to achieve the same goal using simpler means. Let’s discuss.
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Uber, Huffington, and Tactical Servant Leadership
Here’s an understatement: Uber is flawed. It has posted more losses than any tech company. Ever. On top of that, Uber’s public image has been dragged brutally, but not undeservingly, through the mud for the last several years. That said, they have more than a little wiggle room. Uber has raised more money from investors than almost any other tech company and, in December of 2018, they filed for an IPO which, some have predicted, may see the company valued at $120 billion. They have some room to mess up.
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Risk Oversight on Bank Boards
While most organizations understand the value and necessity of risk oversight, banks boards face a pressure which is unique to most other industries. The worst-case scenario in failing to monitor and mitigate risk is always devastating, but unlike other organizations, banks are also burdened with their depositor’s financial well-being. Let’s take a closer look at how banks are handling their risk oversight and what they could be doing better.
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The Life-Changing Magic of Better Decision-Making
The KonMari Method and Your Board
If you have Netflix, you’ve probably heard the name “Marie Kondo”. If not, there’s a good chance you’ll soon encounter Marie Kondo and her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. The KonMari Method has taken the cultural zeitgeist by storm. But do the lessons of Ms. Kondo carry weight in the boardroom? Let’s talk about it.
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