CORGOZINE
Edition 3 - June 8th 2011
In this third issue, we bring you some articles on the specific skills directors need.
This has always been one of Corgo's main starting points, and we are of course pleased if this is also confirmed by research, testimonies and publications.
May 2011 was a rather pleasant and interesting month for Corgo:
We organised a successful RNCI-event on women directors and we were also involved in the Social Profit Dialogues, organised by Acerta Social Profit.
We welcome your suggestions and feedback on corgo.redactie@acerta.be
Feel free to forward this Corgozine to interested third parties.
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The RNCI publishes its first newsletter
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The first issue of 24 pages (in Dutch) is devoted entirely to our event “Quotes about quota”. Those in favour and against think about how we can get more women involved in the Board, and whether making it mandatory in law is the right way to go. This continues to be a hot topic, since the Council of State ruled against the bill on May 26th and the parliamentary commission recently agreed on a new proposal.
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In search of Board excellence
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Choosing independent directors is like hiring top managers: both need a professional approach!
We can illustrate this with an experience of our Corgo Executive Search Partners. They recently completed a search for two specific director profiles for a niche insurance company.
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The Chairman's experience
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"Facilitate efficient Board meetings, always be clear what the Board is there for, think years ahead, consider your own succession, focus on the organisation as a business, be available to management staff as a sounding board..."
These are some of the suggestions made by Luc Vandewalle, Chairman of WAAK, Belgium’s largest ‘protected workplace', on the first and very successful issue of the Social Profit Dialogues on “Being an active Board member”. Two Saturday sessions organised by Acerta Social Profit jointly with Corgo...
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There's no business like family business
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"Formulate a proper business strategy! Choose the benchmarks for success which are in line with your strategy, and don't let yourself get rattled by the 'growth supporters'! Make responsible ownership one of your core values! See an active Board (or advisory board) with outside members as a real source of support. Manage your family too!"
Having been introduced by Acerta's director Chris Swolfs, professor Johan Lambrecht spoke on these five essential tips at the fifth family business forum at HUB Brussels. The results of summarising twenty years' research into family businesses …
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Board Games
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What’s your response to the following questions?
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Are you prepared to resign at a moment’s notice without compensation if you fundamentally disagree with Board policy?
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Would you accept responsibility, together with your colleagues, for any consequential impact of the activities of your organisation?
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Would you be prepared to set aside your concerns about an issue if you were encouraged to do so for the sake of wider Board harmony?
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Would you throw your weight behind a proposal on which you would naturally be ‘neutral’ to ‘against’ if in doing so you could secure support for another of your own favoured proposals?
These and other questions – and answers – are to be found in a new book The Board Game – Survival and Success as a Company Board Member.
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Why not renew your Board of directors more often?
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Isn’t this something to think about? The more time passes and the Board stays the same, the more complacent the Board gets about risk. Like any other team, a Board has a certain natural lifespan. So beware! Renewing your Board of directors regularly can recharge the imagination and is a powerful weapon against complacency and following the crowd!
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Poll
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The response to our last poll question was predominantly 'yes' (87 %):
Companies which pay their CEO performance-related bonuses achieve better corporate results than companies in which this is not the case.
Our new question is about the article about renewing your Board above. Do you agree with this, yes or no?
"The world is changing very fast. All external or independent Board members (even the Chairman of the Board) should resign after 12 years because it then becomes unlikely they can still offer better advice than a fresh new Board member.
Please vote.
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