Features
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Know Thine Enemy
Compared with, say, three years ago, is it harder or easier to get enough information on your industry and competitors? Managements are more open, and the Internet helps. But some directors say you shouldn’t spend much time looking over your shoulder. |
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Creating Happy Campers
How do you monitor employee morale? Is it important for the board to do that? You can take employees doughnuts, walk the halls, or review HR surveys. Or you can ignore them, at your peril. |
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Are
We
Having Fun Yet?
Do you enjoy being a director today as much as you did in the past? The hours are longer, the tasks more challenging, but hard work never killed anyone, right? Right??? |
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Pay Attention! This is Your Board Speaking!
What areas have you and your board encouraged management to get more involved in during the past year? The answers vary, but one thing is clear: Boards are more attentive than ever. |
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We're Telling You This for Your Own Good
How do you criticize a CEO? The same way you handle a porcupine: carefully. |
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Here's Your Hat. What's Your Hurry?
Have boards become too quick to dump CEOs? No. And what some people call micromanaging many directors call doing their job in the post-Enron environment. |
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But We Can Still Be Friends
What should you do when you begin to lose trust in management? Sometimes you can work out problems together. If it’s a moral or ethical issue, just throw the bums out. |
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Walk This Way
How do you persuade a company to be bolder? Or to take fewer risks? You can use facts and figures to question a strategic plan that’s too cautious. Or you can cite your fiduciary responsibility to rein in an inappropriate risk-taker. |
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Even the Lone Ranger had Someone Watching His Back
Has a CEO ever complained that a board you were on wasn’t providing enough support? Yes, and the solution is not always pleasant. |
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Call in the Cavalry. Failing That, a Plumber
Jack Welch has said, “When something goes wrong, we fix it. That’s what great companies do.” As a director, what have you had to help fix? Fraud, shrinking markets, and community complaints are among the troubles boards have helped put right. |
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The Best Defense is a Good Offense
With the growing concern over director liability, are boardroom discussions more defensive than in the past? More heated? Yes, there’s tougher talk. That’s okay, as long as you follow the Corleone mantra: It’s not personal, it’s business. |
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We Must Agree to Disagree
What do you do when another director challenges your opinion? Try facts, figures, and logic, consider arbitration—or agree to disagree. |
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Love and Money
Are you getting sufficient pay for the work you do as a director? It depends on who’s talking. Besides, that’s not why you serve. |
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Last Call
What would you like to add that you haven’t been asked? Diversity, director education, and government regulation are some of the subjects on your mind. |
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How You Can Learn to Stop Worrying and Love the Annual Meeting
It can be an opportunity to get the shareholders on your side. And just maybe, you don't even have to show up —as some companies that are meeting over the Web are finding out. Plus: It's "Be There!" for Some, "Pretty Please" for Others A Hot Topic at Next Year's Annual Meetings? |