Communication, coordination and connection are key to employees thriving away from the office.

Companies will maximize revenues when they value employees for their whole selves.

Consider this my plea to boards and business leaders to stop referring to their employees as “human capital” or “talent.” 

Today’s boards provide effective oversight of performance, people, planet and more. 

In a 2019 article entitled “The Future of the Compensation Committee,” we observed that compensation committee members were, organically and of their own accord, expanding their purview and areas of interest beyond executive compensation and into an increasing array of pay and people issues. 

Andrea Zopp

Director, Henry Ford Health System, Relativity, Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago, Empowerment & Inclusion Capital I Corp. 

Good boards often make bad decisions. They make bad decisions about management and governance. They make bad decisions about people and process. They make bad decisions about strategy that have long-term consequences.

Why Does This Happen?

People serve on corporate boards for excellent reasons, including networking, enhancing their credentials and using their business knowledge in new ways. There is often compensation, averaging about $74,000 per year.  

Eight important ways directors can help grow their companies’ sustainability programs. 

Boards are wrestling with evolving global financial reporting standards, regulations affecting other communications and investor expectations about their companies’ ESG programs. Each company’s ESG challenges and opportunities are different, and each company is likely at a different stage in its ESG program development and implementation. 

The confluence of the pandemic, the global racial reckoning, the war in Ukraine and the climate crisis has created a defining moment for boards and board leadership. As “unprecedented” becomes the norm, ESG has become more vital than ever. The related pushback by states like Florida and Texas has created a unique and challenging environment for boards and CEOs in a heated U.S. political environment. 

A recent survey shows an increased percentage of diverse board members, but limited opportunity in leadership ranks.

The boardroom voice is growing for women and people of color. 

Directors need to understand their role in process oversight, emergency planning, transition dynamics and more.