BOARDROOM Q&A – Ralph Ward Answers Your Toughest Boardroom Questions

Description

Boardroom Q&A delivers over 100 real-world answers to the toughest questions facing corporate board members worldwide today, drawn from Ralph Ward’s Boardroom INSIDER governance newsletter. Savvy advice from leading corporate directors, consultants, counsel, and financial experts, in a handy Q&A format.

(Sample contents)
BOARD STRUCTURE AND PROCEDURES
How to Nudge Our Board Into Using More Tech?… Should We Add a “Governance” Committee?… “Lost” Resolutions at Our Board Meetings?…
Tempting Reluctant Board Candidates… Board Size – Is Bigger or Smaller Better?… Should We Limit How Many Board Seats We Can Hold?… How “Independent” Should Our Board Really Be?… Are Board Term Limits a Good Idea?… How A Board “Pre-Meeting” Can Deliver Better Oversight… Where Can We Cut Board Expenses?

WRESTLING WITH BOARD INFORMATION
Give Your Board a Tour of the Company Website… What is Our Audit Committee Missing?… How Can We Educate Directors In A Hurry?… How Should Our Board Get a Handle On Risk?… How Should CEOs Update the Board?… What Do We Miss When We Review Disclosures?… Why Do Our Board Presentations Suck?

PERSONAL ISSUES
How Do I Disagree At a Board Meeting?… How (And How Not) To Quit a Board… When There’s “Bad Chemistry” Between CEO and Lead Director… Bringing a “Hostile” Director Onto the Board… “Don’t Let the Board See This!”… Directors Blabbing Outside the Boardroom?… Dealing With Boardroom Dissidents… Texting Troubles in the Boardroom?… Trouble Selling Your Committee’s Work to the Full Board?

LIABILITIES
Suing One of Your Own Board Members?… What Are My Post-Board Legal Liabilities?… “Related-Party Transaction” Dangers For Your Board… What Are My Post-Bankruptcy Board Liabilities?… Is My Personal D&O Coverage Adequate?… Is My “Expertise” a Boardroom Lawsuit Danger?… When Your Own Directors Sue… Your Growing Nonprofit Board Liabilities… How Effective is Our Board Conflict of Interest Policy?… When Should a Director Abstain from Discussion?

MY PERSONAL BOARD PORTFOLIO
Why Can’t I Get On a Board?… Our CEO Won’t Let Me Join Outside Boards… Your First Board Meeting… Recovering From A Boardroom Boner… Am I On Too Many Boards?… “Due Diligence” Before I Join a Board?… How Do We Shape Policy for Our Execs Joining Outside Boards?… So What is a “Change in Director’s Job Status?”

PAYSETTING FOR BOARD AND EXECS
Should We Rethink Board Perks and Benefits?… Should We Pay Some Directors More Than Others?… Options vs. Restricted Stock for Our Board?… What Changes for CEO Option Pay?… When Do We Pay Our Directors?… Errors in Our CEO Pay and Perks Disclosure?

CRISES
Is The CEO Lying to Us?… The Exploding Board Resignation Letter… We Have to Investigate One of Our Own Board Members… Should We Take the Company Private?… Investor Relations During Board Investigations… What Should We Disclose On The CEO’s Health Problem?… When You Must Investigate Your CEO/Chair… What CEOs Really Need From Their Boards in Times of Crisis

BOARD LEADERSHIP
How Can I Learn to Be a Board Chair?… How to Chair a Private Company Board… How Do We Evaluate Our Chairman?… When the Chair Takes Over as CEO… Prepping for the New Committee Chair… How Can a New Chair Shake Up the Audit Committee?… Your New Board Leader’s First 100 Days… Six Tips For Effectively Chairing Board Meetings… What Qualifications Are Needed in an Independent Board Chair?

BOARD/MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Is Our CEO Evaluation a Fixed Game?… When The Board Stops Trusting The CEO… CEO vs. the Board on Recruiting New Directors… Has the Board Lost Faith in This CEO?… An Investor “End Run” Around the CEO to the Board?… Tough Calls on Family Business Succession… Director Dealmaking Dangers?… The Board and an Interim CEO… How Should We Limit Our CEO’s Dealmaking?… A “No Contract” CEO Contract?…What do CEOs Need to Report to the Board?