– Risk 4 Good

The “Forward Thinking” Boardroom

May 11, 2011 By Fay 4 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to help corporate board chairs take “intelligent risk.” Their role is more complex than ever and the time available to lead has placed heavy demands on meeting regulatory compliance issues.

This narrative has been playing out in boardrooms since the dawn of time. How do I get my team together and lead the hunt in a world of risks? The backdrop has changed from physical risk to strategic risk; however, many of the same leadership challenges remain.

As leaders of the boardroom, you can only take risks when you’ve set up the relationships around you for success. This takes time and insight to nurture, support and provide resources for your directors and CEO.

This is business-critical, as innovation requires faster and faster execution on ideas. With the socially-connected 24/7 news cycle occurring, the board chair is bringing this together in a disclosure-rich, “report or explain” world.

I recently attended a Leadership program led by Nancy Fredericks, who co-wrote Dancing on the Glass Ceiling. You can find more information here.

Nancy reminded me that once you are trusted to lead (as CEO or as board chair), your primary role is leading other leaders. Your view of the world is “out into the future,” not today.

With that inspiration, I’ve focused Risk for Good on Advising “Forward Thinking” Boards one Board Chair at a time.

I’m interested in your thoughts on what board chairs need to be able to see “out into the future,” and would appreciate you taking a minute to email me at fay@riskforgood.com. All ideas are welcomed. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: board, board chairmen, board chairs, boardroom, chairs, communications, corporate board, corporate counsel, corporate directors, fay feeney, NACD, reputation, risk, social media, social media for the boardroom, technology

Time for a Big Plate of Grilled Confidence

April 10, 2011 By Fay Leave a Comment

Board chairs are leading their boardrooms with more than a little “new” stuff. Businesses that are able to see the digital world and social communications as opportunities are the fortunate ones. Now is the time for board leaders to take a risk. Yes, take the risk of utilizing social media for your communications. Technology is an important part of your business strategy, so put it on the agenda and leverage it.

NACD and Oliver Wyman’s Global Risk Center recently conducted a study to address the issue of IT risk oversight titled Taming Information Technology Risk. According to the survey, nearly half (47%) of directors are dissatisfied with their board’s ability to provide IT risk oversight. Almost a third of directors believed failure to properly provide IT risk oversight stemmed from insufficient expertise at the board level. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Boardroom Video Tagged With: board chairmen, board chairs, corporate board, corporate counsel, corporate directors, fay, fay feeney, Ipad, NACD, reputation, social media, social media for the boardroom, tablets, technology, technology boardroom, virtual shareholder meetings

Leading a Board at “The Speed of Instant”

March 15, 2011 By Fay Leave a Comment

On Monday, a box from UPS showed up. In it were copies of The Corporate Board Magazine for March/April 2011. If you are a subscriber, I can appreciate how much you enjoy getting your copy and reading it. Everything about the magazine speaks to a quality that is becoming more rarefied from the clean, easy-to-read type to the feel of the paper.

I was so excited to see it, as it contained an article I wrote called: “Leading a Board at “The Speed of Instant.” It is written for board chairs to gain an understanding of how technology is changing their boardroom and business. I just love being witness to the social technology movement.

Thanks to my Editor, Ralph Ward who said it well in his introduction to my piece:

“Technology has become a staple of the boardroom over the past decade. Today we see it reshaping the parameters of corporate governance itself.

Electronic board books and board portals are shaking up what happens in the boardroom, of course, but online social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn will force directors to rethink how they reach out to stakeholders.”

Learning High above Sea Level: Deer Valley, UT – NACD Director Professionalism®

March 14, 2011 By Fay Leave a Comment

One of my table mates at the NACD Director Professionalism course I recently attended in Deer Valley, UT was Allan C. Golston, president, United States Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It’s amazing who you sit next to at NACD events. Allan swore his learning wasn’t disrupted by my tweeting during class, and shared with me his takeaways from two days with NACD.

“The course was more than ‘rules of the road’; it was also a dialogue around how to think about the fundamentals of being an effective director in the 21st century in a strategic way. Whether it was rethinking what it really means to have an independent mindset, or rethinking what it means to have courage in the boardroom, or rethinking what it means to represent shareholders—I found these types of fundamentals the most useful.”

Allan Golston with Rob Galford, Compensation Chair, Forrester Research and NACD facilitator

I agree. I invested my time and money to have a refresher on fiduciary responsibilities and to pick up some useful tips on how to contribute most effectively in the boardroom and on key committees, but I came away with so much more: insights that have reshaped my thinking about how to lead in governance and examples of great board behaviors that will galvanize my own priorities and performance.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: board, boardroom, chairs, communications, NACD, technology

Social Business Professional – What’s That All About?

February 21, 2011 By Fay Leave a Comment

What is a Social Business Professional?

I had to ask that when I heard from One Forty that I had been accepted as a “Social Business Professional.” Social media is being built as an expertise as it goes along. I regularly tell people in the boardroom that no one is an expert yet. Lisa Sasevich calls it “building the plane while it is flying.” I am comfortable calling myself a professional.

I am not a hobbyist. I take the business risk and opportunity seriously for board chairs and corporate counsel. They are being asked to assess the impact on their compliance and business strategy. This is a serious matter that needs professional expertise to intersect with social media. Yes, we’re having fun here. No, social media is not going away nor going to be exclusively for teenagers. What we are seeing is that it allows for larger coordination across a greater geography at a lower cost.

The Connected Boardroom

January 18, 2011 By Fay Leave a Comment

I just got back from my first visit to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. As much as I enjoyed the first look at the gadgets, my attention was on the CEOs who spoke about this $186 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. When I listen to a CEO, my focus goes to the support, guidance and contributions coming from the board chair and directors.

It was a great experience, with a very special invite from Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher of AllThingsD to attend the Wall Street Journal Digital @ CES session. As a Twitter user, hearing about their business strategy from the CEO, Dick Costolo, was a treat.

I also attended a CEO/chairman session with Jeffrey Immelt, CEO and chairman, GE; John Chambers, chairman and CEO, Cisco; and Ursula Burns, chairman and CEO, Xerox. They gave me a new appreciation for the challenges of leading a global company headquartered in the U.S. The overall mood was optimistic, yet with concern about the need for infrastructure investments to support the future. They are selling to global markets and made it clear that the U.S. opportunities are 300 million people vs. the projected 7 billion worldwide.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: 4G, board, communications, corporate board, Ipad, NACD, social media, tablets

Happy New Year: A New Decade Awaits Us (2000-2010) in Review

December 31, 2010 By Fay Leave a Comment

The Decade in Review: 2000 – 2010

We started with Y2K and are ending with my wishes for a healthy, happy, prosperous and peaceful New Year!

Thanks for all your support for the conversation we’re having here at Risk for Good. Our focus for 2011 is: Helping board chairmen, CEO’s & corporate counsel rock the modern boardroom. I’m in look/listen/learn mode.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: board, boardroom, communications, corporate board, corporate directors, fay feeney, Ipad, NACD, reputation, risk, social media

Corporate Directors in a Social World: Who’s Talking about You?

November 18, 2010 By Fay Leave a Comment

Around the globe the world has gone social using online opportunities to connect and collaborate with like minded people. You’ll want to check the statistics at the end of this post to see how fast the internet is growing. So with almost two billion people online do you know if anyone is talking about you and your business? If you haven’t had this “boardroom conversation” yet the time is now.
So why the puppy dog? Well we all want to sleep well with the covers keeping us warm. Going online to see what is being said is like “pulling back the covers.” You have to decide if is time to get up and remove the covers. If you are ready to see what is being said let’s start with what you can find on Google.
Googling yourself is a first step in monitoring and tracking what is being said about you and your board. This is the easiest way to see what is on the web. Easy enough. Here are the questions I ask clients when setting up monitoring for them:
1. What names should be tracked?: your own, CEO, chairman, other directors?

2. Company name and/or operating entities?

3. Products

4. Competitors

5. Investors

6. Industry leaders

7. Professional associations
These are advanced strategies to consider when building your own news feed about you and your board. At a minimum, I encourage you to Google your name and set up free Google alerts for some or all of the seven areas. These are a start at keeping up on what is happening with you and your business. With two billion people talking, directors cannot sit back and assume that all is well. No reason to put your reputation at risk when a Goggle search can help you see “who’s talking about you.”

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: board, boardroom, communications, corporate board, corporate directors, fay feeney, Ipad, NACD, risk, social media

Are you an IPad Director?

November 4, 2010 By Fay Leave a Comment

My eyes were opened when I was at the NACD 2010 Annual conference last month by the directors using IPads. Many had been given the IPad to help them with their board work. It was a visual you can appreciate anytime you see people using new technology.

I was in a pre-conference session on Nomination and Governance when a director spoke up to talk about the opportunities and risks of social media. He spoke from a set of first hand experiences gathered in leadership positions in the hospitality business. I was thrilled so early in event to find one of my people: a director who can speak about the importance of social media on business strategy.

I had a chance to meet up with the director and want to introduce him to you. His name is John W. Mims, Managing Partner, The Hunting Ridge Group. He sits on the board of Brinker International, Inc. and Entertainment Cruises. You’ll enjoy his comments and do let us know your board experiences overseeing this fast moving area. We are gathering up good questions to ask in the boardroom. You’ll hear John’s favorite questions in this video: John Mims on Social Media Strategy and the Boardroom.

John Mims 2010 NACD Conference

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: board, boardroom, communications, corporate board, corporate directors, fay feeney, Ipad, NACD, reputation, risk, social media

Sit Down, Listen Up: We’re Here to Help You Stop Worrying about Falling Behind

October 12, 2010 By Fay Leave a Comment

I’m so excited because tomorrow I start my travels. I’m headed to Chicago for the Fall Trustee meeting for the ASSE Foundation. I am Vice-Chair and love my board service. I get great pleasure in seeing executives and companies support the future of the safety, health and environmental profession.

Then on to Washington, DC to speak at the National Association of Corporate Directors 2010 Conference. I’m speaking on a subject that is very new and is requiring the business world to rethink and relearn. The session is for corporate directors to learn about what is happening and the business impact of the digital world.

If the program hadn’t already gone to print I’d rename my panel, “Sit Down, Listen Up: We’re Here to Help You Stop Worrying about Falling Behind.”

Some of the facts that are driving the digital world are contained in a recent report from The Access Point. These results include: how corporate communicators are using social media, the priorities and challenges they are encountering and how they’re funding and measuring their efforts.

This study surveyed 80 senior-level corporate communicators at companies with annual revenues from $2 million to more than $100 billion and representing industries as diverse as finance, technology, telecom, transportation, media, entertainment, real estate and retail.

Here are some Key Findings I’ll be sharing:

Social media continues to be an urgent and growing priority among communicators– even as uncertainty exists regarding how to measure and report social media program results and ROI.
Nearly all (87 percent) expect social media to significantly or dramatically change how corporate communications teams communicate with target audiences.
While budgets for social media programs remain a moving target, nearly all (89 percent) intend to increase their investment in social media in the coming year.
One of the major obstacles communicators face in the adoption and usage of social media is a lack of understanding among internal stakeholders within their organizations.
Most feel they have mastered the social media “basics” such as: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn. They are now seeking to take social media to “the next level.”

http://tinyurl.com/233b37k

Stay tuned for more good stuff coming from Risk for Good as we travel to the NACD conference. The plane leaves tomorrow bright and early. Gotta go!

Best, Fay

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: board, boardroom, communications, corporate board, corporate directors, fay feeney, Ipad, NACD, reputation, risk, social media