How to Get Smarter, in Six-Minute Bites
from January/February 2003
by Colin Leinster
Wise businesses continue to squeeze opportunity out of the Web, and Board Member Inc., our parent company, is no exception. The magazine itself has been online for some time now. I don’t necessarily recommend that you read it that way, because you’ll deprive yourself of our great graphics. That said, I do urge you to go to www.boardmember.com and check out all the other useful information you’ll find there. For example, it lists governance guidelines adopted by the boards of some of America’s most respected companies.
By the time you get this issue, the site will be offering the first six segments of the Board Governance Series of webcasts, on-camera interviews with top authorities on subjects that lie close to every director’s heart—and mind. They are board recruitment, audit committee independence, benefits of a governance audit, D&O insurance, how the new Sarbanes-Oxley law affects directors, and, always ripe for discussion among our readers, good governance as board strategy. Some of these topics overlap with articles we’ve brought to you in the magazine, of course. Indeed, the discussion of the effects Sarbanes-Oxley will have on boardrooms complements this issue’s cover story.
Among those talking about the new law in our webcasts is attorney Ira Millstein, senior partner at Weil Gotshal & Manges and a leading figure in corporate reform. Other speakers include Richard Steinberg, who heads the U.S corporate governance practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; he concludes that at the end of the day it’s not legislation that will make the difference, but the diligence, commitment, and courage of directors. Thomas Neff, chairman of the executive search firm Spencer Stuart, thinks the new rules will make director recruitment tougher than ever. John W. Keogh, president of National Union Fire Insurance Co., an AIG subsidiary, makes the dread (but all too believable) prediction that legislated reform will lead inexorably to an increase in litigation. Also discussing these and the other topics are Julie Daum of Spencer Stuart’s board services practice and three other Weil Gotshal partners, Martin Bienenstock, Holly Gregory, and Robert Messineo.
We’re bringing you these webcasts, each lasting six minutes, in partnership with the Nasdaq Stock Market. Nasdaq chairman and CEO Hardwick Simmons introduces each of the segments.
One person you won’t see on your computer screen is my friend and colleague TK Kerstetter, president of Board Member Inc., who asked the questions that appear on the screen as subtitles. He was the inspiration behind these webcasts, and here’s his explanation of how they came about:
“Months before Enron and Sarbanes-Oxley hit the front pages, Board Member began working with Nasdaq to come up with ways to help directors fulfill their fiduciary duties and put the best governance practices into effect in their boardrooms—in other words, to do their jobs better. Traditional training methods are all well and good, but they sure as heck can take a lot of time, whole days in some cases. However, a lot of time is exactly what busy directors—which means most of them—don’t have. We set out to offer education that came in quick bites. Last year we began to produce a series of webcasts that addressed various director concerns, such as what to do when targeted by a lawsuit. We’ve continued to update and refocus these webcasts as the challenges you face have evolved. To find the new Board Governance webcasts, click here.
“The new series takes this form of director education a step further. We’re still keeping the webcasts short, and twice a year we will also offer them in print form.”
As Kerstetter points out, better-educated board members benefit everybody, including shareholders. We’re glad to continue playing our part in that. These six webcasts are just the beginning of what we believe will be a long-running and valuable series.
