14 Posts Found

• What is the mission of the organization? The response should be why it does what it does, the organization’s reason for being. If there is no mission statement, or the response focuses on the what and not on the why it does what it does, say good-bye.
• What is the board’s vision of the future? This question should bring an illuminating response. No vision, no

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Author: Frances Hesselbein | Source: Thought Leaders Forum: Frances Hesselbein on The Indispensable Partnership | Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

Here are seven key questions that people who are considering joining a board should ask their attorneys. Sitting directors can use the questions as a checklist to gauge what to demand from a company to stay on its board.

1. Are my assets covered? No question is likely to be more important than this one, regardless of how diligent and honorable a director, other board

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Author: Randy Myers | Source: Seven Questions to Ask Your Own Attorney Now | Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

There’s a lot of talk these days about the lack of independent directors on corporate boards. But it’s not just a big-company issue. There should be at least one outsider on your board, too. Here’s what to ask to get the right person in the chair.

1. What will it take for my company to grow from $10 million to $100 million? Insert your own

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Author: Jennifer Gill | Source: Smart Questions: How to Vet a Board Member | Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

These are the questions that every director should be able to answer—with a “yes,” in the case of the first nine, and with a reasonably comprehensive explanation in the case of the latter three.

1. Strategic Direction: Does management have a comprehensive strategy and operating plan for the company to realize its performance potential?
2. Resource Allocation: Are the necessary human, financial, physical, and other supporting resources

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Authors: Bill Birchard, Christian Burger, Paul F. Kocourek | Source: Corporate Governance: Hard Facts about Soft Behaviors | Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

1. What is our risk taxonomy? Just listing risks in an ever-expanding inventory is not enough. An effective risk management foundation requires structuring the forces that have an impact on a company’s worth and survival. Risks need to be categorized in a systematic way and into components that together are exhaustive (all possible risks are covered) and exclusive (no risk is included more than

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Authors: Eric Krell, Henry Essert | Source: Risk Test: 7 Answers You Need to Know | Subjects: Corporate Governance Questions, Risk Management Questions

1. What are the implications of our business strategy and our approach to value creation for our executive compensation system? What behaviors are we trying to motivate? Does the system support our strategy? Does it encourage our executives to act like owners?
2. Is the overall pay package appropriately balanced? Between fixed pay and variable pay? Between short-term-variable and long-term-variable pay? For each level of the

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Authors: Frank Plaschke, Gerry Hansell, Lars-Uwe Luther, Mathias Schatt | Source: Fixing What’s Wrong with Executive Compensation | Subjects: Corporate Governance Questions, Human Resources Questions

1. What are the greatest opportunities we haven’t yet capitalized on? 
2. What are the greatest threats that could end this storied franchise if not addressed? 
3. What is the one thing I could do to screw it up?
4. What do you hope will change? 
5. What should not change? 
6. What aren’t people telling me that I need to know? 
7. What am I not hearing that I should be hearing?

Authors: Carolyn Dewar, Kurt Strovink, Scott Keller, Vikram Malhotra | Source: Starting strong: Making your CEO transition a catalyst for renewal | Subjects: Corporate Governance Questions, Leadership Questions

Use these eight questions to guide your search for a new board leader.

1. Are we aligned on the qualities we’re looking for? Boards should be searching for someone who can maintain a collegial yet objective relationship with the CEO that is built on trust; with relevant strategic experience to help guide the company in the right direction; and with the courage to challenge management and the

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Authors: Dennis Carey, Joseph E. Griesedieck, Michael Useem, Ram Charan | Source: Choosing a New Board Leader: Eight Questions | Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

1. If you designed the agenda, what would be on it?
2. What is the executive not telling you that you feel you need to know?
3. How is the external world changing in ways that are not reflected in your board conversations?
4. What don’t you know about the company that you’re most concerned about?
5. What do you see always being discussed but never resolved?
6. What are you not discussing that you need

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Authors: Andrew White, Eric Wilkinson, Tazim Essani | Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

If you’re a chief exec or even an executive leader:

• Do you have a comprehensive understanding of the groups that most affect the organization’s ability to reach its goals?
• Do you know who your top customers and most critical employees are?

Now that you’ve identified them, ask yourself:

• Why do those customers and employees choose your company?
• Why do they stay?
• What is the likelihood of their future loyalty?

Authors: Chris Jones, Jake Herway | Source: The Biggest Mistakes New CEOs Make and How Not to Make Them | Subjects: Corporate Governance Questions, Management Questions

The Harvard Business Review pulled together a list of questions that CEOs and boards can ask each other to try to bring their mutual goals more in line with each other.

1. Where should we place our primary focus – shareholders, stakeholders or society at large?
2. What is long-term shareholder value really about and how is it created?
3. Can we influence who our shareholders are?
4. What is our responsibility

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Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

• Do the company and its leaders have a sense of higher purpose in what they do?

Source:
Making Sense of Executive Pay
by Marcia Blenko
Bain & Company, 1/1/2003

Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

• Is your strategy clear?
• Can it be translated into action?
• Is it measurable?
• Does it have the potential to transform your business?
• Do you measure the true drivers of value in your business?
• Do you link your executive compensation to what drives value – key strategic and financial measures as well as relative share price?
• Are your executives motivated to create a dramatic upside for shareholders?
• Is there

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Subject: Corporate Governance Questions

Ram Charan and Julie Schlosser recommend the best questions every board member and shareholder should ask to get to the heart of what they should know about a company. Ten disarmingly simple questions. “so simple in fact, that we often forget to – or are embarrassed to – ask them.”

1. How does the company make money?
2. Are our customers paying up?
3. What could really hurt

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Subject: Corporate Governance Questions