Is your Board stuck in the SAC Rut- Show Up, Agree, Collect Check?
A female acquaintance who has held C-Suite level corporate positions in the past, was recently talking to me about the multiple Board of Director seats she holds. I asked her about her degree of input at Board meetings. Her answer went something like this, “I show up, agree, collect my check and leave.” I pressed her a bit further. “What if you don’t agree? What if you have something to add to the discussion based on your own experiences? What if you want to challenge another board member? Her answer was simply, “The more I just smile and agree, the better my chances are of getting on more Boards. It’s very lucrative and requires almost no work.” She then reminded me that she is a “hot commodity” as a former female senior executive.
Our August blog series, 31 Trust Tips For Boards & C-Suites provides guidance to boards on how to get out of the SAC Rut. There are another 69 essays in the book itself, Trust Inc., A Guide for Boards & C-Suites.
High-trust organizations with high-trust Boards are rewarded with faster decision making, flourishing innovation, and accelerating growth and profitability. And trust is built through:
- collaboration
- common goals
- cooperation
- competence
- candor
- connection
- challenging the status quo
- character
- caring
- compromise
- choices
And these are just the “C’s”!
Boards stuck in the SAC Rut get back exactly what they put in. They get back nothing and ALL the stakeholders suffer as a result. And unfortunately, the story told above is all too common.
Barbara Brooks Kimmel is the Executive Director of Trust Across America-Trust Around the World whose mission is to help organizations build trust. She is also the editor of the award winning TRUST INC. book series. In 2012 Barbara was named “One of 25 Women Changing the World” by Good Business International.
Coming Soon!
Should you wish to communicate directly with Barbara, drop her a note at Barbara@trustacrossamerica.com
Copyright © 2014, Next Decade, Inc.
What a sad, sad tale.
This person has little sense of duty or integrity: duty to the fiduciary responsibility she holds to the stakeholders of the firms; integrity in that she is not doing the “right thing.”
She is taking money under false pretenses.
This kind of mentality needs to be challenged and changed.
I would not trust this person.
I agree. This board member is committing gross negligence and an example of why the public trust is so low toward business.
I agree with commenter above; a sad commentary on governance, and even sadder when someone takes advantage of a minority status to abuse it.