Last week the spring issue of TRUST! Magazine was published by Trust Across America-Trust Around the World (TAA-TAW). This special 10th anniversary issue, coauthored with Bob Vanourek, a former corporate CEO and cofounder of Triple Crown Leadership is called Building Trustworthy Organizations: The Role of Good Governance. Having polled almost two dozen lead directors, Board members and governance experts, Bob and I asked three survey questions. The first two were:
What does/did the term “good corporate governance” mean to you?
What are/were some of the key governance practices you find/found most useful to good corporate governance?
The third question was:
What are some suggestions you have for improved corporate governance in the future?
While the magazine contains literally dozens of responses and ideas, the following are ten recommendations regarding the Board in general:
- “Understanding and practicing good governance is not a skill set listed when looking for candidates to nominate for election to a board—it is important that good education is provided for new and current directors on the tenets of good governance which are publicized by the company.”
- “Good governance is enhanced with high levels of trust among board members, good communications between directors and senior management, a solid internal auditing function, and a reliance on competent outside counsel.”
- “Greater gender, ethnic, age and geographic diversity.”
- “Define ‘cognitive diversity’ and integrate it into the board search process.”
- “Fewer sitting CEOs as directors and limitations on how many boards their own CEO may sit on.”
- “A board that is deeply engaged with each other, the CEO, and leadership team.”
- “Yearly review by the board of recommendations from the various stakeholders for changes and additions to governance policies and procedures.”
- “Closer attention to ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance). In 2017, ExxonMobil faced a 62 per cent proxy vote for stronger climate change disclosure. Expect ESG to become a standard proxy concern for major shareholder groups.”
- “Ensuring a constructive, trustworthy tone at the top among board members and senior management, personally modeling appropriate behavior.”
- “Strive to lead in the spirit of trust to make things better now and for the future. Their goal is to leave the organization better than when they found it.”
Building trustworthy organizations is, indeed, an essential element of good corporate governance. As one of our wise respondents said of board members,
“As stewards, they strive to lead in the spirit of trust
to make things better now and for the future.
Their goal is to leave the organization
better than when they found it.”
Last week we also introduced TAP, our Trust Alliance Principles. They are available (in 5 languages) by tapping the button on our home page or to the right of this blog.
We hope these two new resources will help organizations build trust. That has remained the mission of TAA-TAW since it’s inception 10 years ago.
Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the CEO and Cofounder of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. A former consultant to McKinsey & Company, she also runs the world’s largest global Trust Alliance and is the editor of the award- winning TRUST INC. book series. In 2017 she was named a Fellow of the Governance & Accountability Institute, and in 2012 she was recognized as one of “25 Women who are Changing the World” by Good Business International. She holds a BA in International Affairs from Lafayette College and an MBA from Baruch at the City University of NY.
For more information visit our website at www.trustacrossamerica.com
or contact barbara@trustacrossamerica.com
Follow us on Twitter @BarbaraKimmel and @TapIntoTrust
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Copyright (c) 2018, Next Decade, Inc.
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