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Wargaming Risk: What Military Leaders Bring to the TableIssue: 2020 Second QuarterWhen the going gets tough, it’s easy to fall back on language that refers to war. Often people are “on the front line,” or taking on a challenge is a “battle.” Over the years, the United States has waged war on drugs, poverty and, most recently, the coronavirus.The military is known for discipline, ...
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The Key Challenges Boards Face NowIssue: 2020 Second QuarterThe COVID-19 pandemic is just beginning to take off in India [in late March]. Nonetheless, the Indian government has undertaken a preemptive 21-day lockdown to flatten the curve. As a result, companies are already grappling with massive disruptions. As a board member of several leading Indian compan...
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Risk Management and the BoardIssue: 2020 Second QuarterOne of the most important skills for a board member is the ability to think strategically about risk management and that thinking requires looking at redundancy, diversity in the supply chain, and both financial and talent capacity within our organizations. Examining each of those should be viewed m...
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A Leadership Q&A With Stan SilvermanIssue: 2020 Second QuarterStan Silverman is vice chairman, Drexel University, the author of Be Different! The Key to Business and Career Success, the founder and CEO of Silverman Leadership, and former chair of PQ Corporation. He spoke to Scott Chase about risk and leadership in the time of crisis.Beyond COVID-19 and the ass...
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COVID-19 and LeadershipIssue: 2020 Second QuarterWe certainly don’t get to decide on the crisis we will face, but as leaders and directors, we do get to decide on the how we respond and lead through it. To state the obvious, a crisis requires leadership that is prepared, calm, decisive, and comfortable with ambiguity. But in times like these, it i...
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Butterflies in New MexicoIssue: 2020 Second QuarterWith schools, sporting events, and many businesses shut down in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus with “social distancing,” many companies are scaling back or entirely eliminating in-person shareholder events and transitioning to virtual meetings instead.During my decade as a CEO of what ...
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Boards in the Time of CrisisIssue: 2020 Second QuarterThe unfolding COVID-19 crisis is very much like watching 9/11 happen in slow motion. We know it’s bad, and that it will get worse, but we have no clear indication of when we will reach the apex of the crisis and can begin to recover. We hope that by the time this issue of Directors & Boards arri...
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What COVID-19 Means for Public CompaniesIssue: 2020 Second QuarterCOVID-19 has raised a number of issues specific to public companies that file reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These matters include the application of SEC disclosure requirements to the COVID-19 situation, logistics for upcoming shareholder meetings and administrative...
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Meeting Safely, LegallyIssue: 2020 Second QuarterWith schools, sporting events, and many businesses shut down in an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus with “social distancing,” many companies are scaling back or entirely eliminating in-person shareholder events and transitioning to virtual meetings instead.Most public companies have histori...
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Anticipating the UnanticipatedIssue: 2020 Second QuarterAs we have been painfully reminded by recent events, life can come at you fast, and systemic shocks and unanticipated challenges will stress even the best-organized companies. As individuals, families and businesses have struggled to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, many boards of directors have be...
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Climate Change: Five Considerations for BoardsIssue: 2020 Second QuarterClimate change is no longer abstract. Phenomena including raging wildfires in Australia and increasingly frequent “100-year” storms have proved that the impact on supply chains is real, and the potential long-term scenarios range from concerning to apocalyptic.Environment-related risks ranked as fiv...
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Coronavirus and CompensationIssue: 2020 Second QuarterThe sudden acceleration of the COVID-19 pandemic, with substantial economic damage to many industries, has companies scrambling to respond. The priorities, obviously, are to protect employees’ health, first and foremost, and to manage the risk to the business. But after taking those steps, some comp...
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Meeting the ChallengeIssue: 2020 Second QuarterLife has drastically changed for all of us, with a tectonic shift in how we live and breathe. We at Directors & Boards are committed to help you navigate through this unprecedented crisis and guide you toward a revived and renewed future.In this time of war, boards of directors need to demonstra...
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After CoronavirusIssue: 2020 Second QuarterLast year, Directors & Boards devoted its attention to the rising focus on environmental, social and governance issues (ESG) from institutional investors and others, culminating in our Character of the Corporation event last November. While much of the discussion surrounding ESG was illuminating...
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Leadership in RecoveryIssue: 2020 Second QuarterWhat an interesting time to be a leader, to say the least. I hope beyond hope that the curve of COVID-19 infections has flattened by the time you read this. But we really don’t know when that will happen, and such uncertainty makes leadership particularly difficult.By the beginning of April, we’ve a...
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‘First Reactions Aren’t Always the Best Reactions’Issue: 2020 Second QuarterFewer than a dozen people have served as Secretary of Homeland Security since the department was added to the Cabinet in 2003. Jeh Johnson is among the longest-serving, heading the department under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017.During his tenure, Johnson dealt with many of the same threat...
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Crisis Communications Should Focus on How Companies Help ConstituentsIn the rush to communicate with employees and customers about their responses to the novel coronavirus, many companies inadvertently led with their chins: “Your health and safety are our top priority.”It’s good to be caring and to assure others, but at issue is the potential for lawsuits where attor...
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Practical Tips for Virtual OversightAs the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak continues to wreak havoc across the globe, boards of directors have a critical oversight role to play in helping their companies navigate through these uncertain times. That oversight function is complicated by the fact that the pandemic is evolving at li...
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COVID-19 and First Concerns for the BoardroomAs companies seek to understand and react to the particular ways in which the coronavirus pandemic may imperil their employees, operations and financial condition, there are certain key considerations that directors will likely be addressing as they, working together with management, support a varie...
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Helping You Navigate Through This CrisisA Message From the Publisher of Directors & BoardsWe at Directors & Boards are committed to helping you navigate through this unprecedented crisis and guiding you towards a revived and renewed future. First and foremost, we all need to be focused on the health, safety and well-bein...