Is It Time To Kill Off Old Style Bullet Point Presentations?
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In the last issue of Board Works I discussed when presentations might be useful to a board (
Getting the Best Out Of Boardroom Presentations
). That prompted a discussion with one of my colleagues about the form of board presentations. He told me of having recently sat through a client's board meeting in which senior staff 'dumped' a series of detailed, bullet pointed PowerPoint slides on the board. Slides were filled entirely with letters and numerals - not a single visual element was used to help the board see connections, patterns and trends in the data. This ignores the essential 'overview' responsibilities of the board. It must be able to see the 'big picture'. The slides were apparently so overloaded that the font sizes were too small to read off the screen. The slide deck was neither pre-circulated in hard copy nor even tabled at the meeting. To cap it all off, the presentation was mind numbingly boring, line after line, and slide after slide. Not only was the material poorly conceived and presented but, at some point you can be certain these executives are going to say to this board "but we gave you that 'information' in February".
Read and Print the full Article
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 It is surprising how often the question of board minutes gets raised with us. Boards, individual directors and board support staff are equally likely to initiate an inquiry. This level of interest seems to reflect both variability in practice and the absence of agreement on what is 'best practice'. About that there appears to be some very strongly held (and opposing) views.
Consequently, in this issue it might be helpful to cover off some of the main aspects concerning the recording of minutes. Please note, however, that this commentary does not constitute legal advice. You should get specific legal; advice if there is any uncertainty.
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Boardroom Behavioural Types
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Despite having a good collection of individual CVs, many boards struggle to form or maintain a cohesive team. Apparently 'competent' or 'skilled' directors can struggle to make an impact at the board table while more poorly skilled colleagues can dominate the boardroom dialogue (albeit often in a negative way). The reasons for this contrast are worth exploring and appear to be primarily behavioural. Once in the boardroom, directors' behaviours seem to play as big a part in their individual effectiveness and contribution to aggregate board performance as do their skills or competencies.
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Do Chief Executives Get Fired When They Should?
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The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has recently reported on the firing of under-performing chief executives. (1) This prompted some reflections of my own based on the hundreds of board/chief executive relationships my colleagues and I have observed over the years. Three conclusions came quickly to mind....
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