Announcing
the only national conference focused on the unique governance
challenges of privately-owned businesses, including:
Closely held
businesses Family-owned
businesses Private Equity-owned
businesses
Produced by Directors & Boards and
Family Business
Magazine, the Private Company
Governance Summit 2013 will gather
company owners/shareholders and their directors for a high-level
discussion on best governance practices for private company
boards. Click
here for more information, and to
register.
Social Media: A Gorilla in the Boardroom
My advice regarding social networks: Be more worried about their
pitfalls than you are bullish on their opportunities. By
Leo Hindery Jr., Managing Partner of InterMedia Partners LP
Those of us who are
older — which increasingly feels like almost all of us — will never
forget the opening pool-side scene in the classic movie “The Graduate”
when Benjamin was advised that his future should be in “plastics.”
Well, the other day I overheard some high-level colleagues, with
roughly the same absence of insight that blew over Benjamin’s head when
he was handed his future in plastics, talking about how “social media”
and “digital” are two of their boardroom’s really great
opportunities.
Unless your company is a social media company like Facebook, which
means you’re struggling as virtually every such company in this sector
is with fulsomely monetizing the myriad social interactions for which
you are the ‘umbrella,’ then you probably think that for your company,
social media is the greatest thing since white rice — and that this new
corporate manna will readily bring you untold benefits and perhaps even
additional profit.
Get Ahead of Things
However, with every corporate yin there almost always comes a yang, and
thus, given human nature, for every bit of benefit and positive
feedback that might flow to your company from social media, there will
likely be factors — such as adverse comments and complaints about you
which will hang out there in the Internet ether until the end of time —
unless you and your managers at every level quickly get out in front of
this brave new world. (See “Should
What Happens at Applebee’s Stay at Applebee’s?” by Conor
Friedersdorf, The Atlantic, Feb. 1, 2013.)
And as for “digital,” this imprecise word means at once almost
everything and nothing, since essentially nothing today is not digital
in one form or another. Even good old amorphous “plastics” back in its
day had more precision in its definition that does today the virtually
all-encompassing word “digital.”
Recruiting the digital
director How to find them… attract
them…
and get value from them. By Gerald M. Czarnecki
Digital directors can be the deciding factor. How digital expertise
comes in many forms, and a recruiting checklist for nominating
committees. Plus, digital director spotlights.
Leading the
family-controlled company By John Wood and Bryan Proctor
The unique pressures created by family ownership are many. Here are
three management and governance issues that family-member CEOs and
independent CEOs alike have identified as crucial for their success.
A cautionary note is always in order whenever a disruptor of the old
ways presents itself, particularly one that gets regulatory blessing.
For that we offer up “Social Media: The Gorilla in the Boardroom” as
the Article of the Month in this e-Briefing.
Author Leo Hindery provides a proper note of sobriety as boards weigh
the “untold benefits” that he warns many may think social media will
generate for their companies.
Again, we weigh in with a cautionary note about taking too doctrinaire
a position on this issue of board leadership. In the Columnist slot,
Hoffer Kaback makes a compelling case that the splitting of the roles
is “No Litmus Test” of good governance.
My editor’s note for this month’s newsletter is a bit abbreviated as the Directors & Boards team gets
suited up to present the Private
Company Governance Summit on May 16-17. I will share a few
comments about the conference in my editor’s note for the June
e-Briefing.
May 9, 2013
Women in the Boardroom is hosting a New York City Connections Event.
Guest speaker is Kathie De Cirico, COO and executive vice president of
business development, Robin Baron Design Group, who has more than 25
years of both retail and wholesale experience in the fashion industry.
Topic for the evening program is "The Three E's of Authentic
Leadership: Engagement, Empowerment and Execution." For more
information, visit http://www.womenintheboardroom.com
May 15-17, 2013
The Private Company Governance Summit 2013, hosted by Directors &
Boards and Family Business Magazines, will gather privately-held
company owners/shareholders and their directors for a high-level
discussion on best governance practices for private company boards.
Ideal for any closely-held business, family-owned business, or
private-equity owned business, the conference is sponsored by Deloitte,
Heidrick & Struggles and Diligent. To review the agenda, and to
register, please click here.
May 20-22, 2013
The 8th Annual Compliance Week Conference will be held at the Mayflower
Hotel in Washington, D.C. "The State of Audits and Auditing Today" will
be the subject of one of the keynote presentations, addressed by
Jeanette Franzel, board member, Public Company Accounting Oversight
Board; Greg Weaver, chairman and CEO, Deloitte & Touche; and Trent
Gazzaway, national managing partner of audit services, Grant Thornton.
For more information, visit http://www.complianceweek.com/8th-annual-conference/section/2777
Drexel University's
Center for Corporate Governance at the LeBow
College of Business presents Director's Dialogue, a highly interactive
session that brings together public company leadership and board
members to focus on critical issues facing boards. The program is
limited to 30 directors who serve on public company boards. Raj Gupta,
former chairman and CEO of Rohm and Haas Co., will give the keynote
speech at the opening night dinner on April 8 at the Union League Club.
For more information, contact Tamika Washington at tamikaw@drexel.edu
or visit http://www.lebow.drexel.edu/Event/DD2013
Those of us who are
older — which increasingly feels like almost all of us — will never
forget the opening pool-side scene in the classic movie “The Graduate”
when Benjamin was advised that his future should be in “plastics.”
