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What inspired you to become a member of the Virtual Advisory Board community?


The red thread in my career is multi-generational family-owned enterprise. After graduate school I was in product management at the family business SC Johnson for five years before joining our own 4th generation furniture and clock manufacturing company with 22 shareholders. We built up a fiduciary board with a majority of independent directors that were very helpful in many ways including ownership and leadership succession. After 7 years I was elected president, 3 years later CEO and a year after that Chairman of the Board. The 5th generation was pursing their own dreams, so 28 years into my career in that company we sold the business to a strategic buyer. After a successful integration, I found my way to an encore career with the Family Business Consulting Group (FBCG) serving multi-generational family businesses and family offices. Over the years I found that serving on other boards helped in my own leadership development and boosted my ability to add value in a variety of settings. I currently serve on three business boards; one fiduciary and two advisory. I also participate in the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the Private Directors Association (PDA) and Board Prospects. It felt natural to join VAB when the opportunity presented itself.


In what area do you feel board advisors can add the most value for Boards of Directors (BoDs) and executive teams?


Board members add important value when they closely consider all of the pre-reading materials, listen well, ask insightful questions and share experiences that may resonate with the rest of the board and enterprise leaders. Independent directors in a family-owned business are particularly valuable when they are viewed by shareholders as fair arbiters. The board sees that the business is well run in a manner consistent with the vision, values and business performance expectations of owners. Directors can facilitate ownership succession, leadership development, compensation, and feedback. They oversee strategy and the allocation of capital. It’s no wonder that companies with boards that include three or more independent directors perform better, on average, over the long run.


What would be your dream company/organization to work with as a board advisor/NED?


I would love to join the fiduciary board of a durable consumer product manufacturing and marketing company owned by a multi-generational family where the business is successful and continued growth will rely on innovative product development. That’s the kind of business where I spent most of my executive career.

What book would you recommend to VAB members that might improve their skills in corporate

governance, board advisory or boosting board-to-executive team communications?


The seminal book, Building a Successful Family Business Board, by Jennifer Pendergast, John Ward and Stephanie Brun de Pontet is essential reading for anyone developing, serving or aspiring to a family business board. Joe Schmieder, author of Innovation in the Family Business packed his valuable insights into an article I highly recommend that was published by Private Company Director: https://www.privatecompanydirector.com/features/make-innovation-priority-your-board Equally important for effectiveness on boards is a solid understanding of markets and human motivations. Some great books include, I, Pencil by Leonard Read, The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek and When All You Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough: The Search for a Life that Matters by Harold Kushner.


Follow Rob Sligh on LinkedIn.





What inspired you to become a member of the Virtual Advisory Board community?


I believe that becoming a board member is a natural evolution of my vocation as an attorney and counsellor. Over the years, I have accumulated plenty of legal and technical knowledge, but I have found that most people are looking for perspectives or options that they have not thought of. That is especially true when a person or organisation is going through a crisis – it is very hard to think clearly and having someone who can view things dispassionately and offer sound advice can mean the difference between success and failure.


In what area do you feel board advisors can add the most value for Boards of Directors (BoDs) and executive teams?


The 30 November 2022 release of the generative AI software ChatGPT was a world-changing event. Its adoption rate far exceeds that of any other technology in history, and it is changing how business is conducted daily. It represents a classic "Black Swan" event – a change that is profound yet predictable only in hindsight. Legislatures around the world are drafting laws such as the EU AI Act to address its impact and standards bodies such as NIST, OECD, and COSO have issued frameworks and other monographs to help govern its use. Technology practitioners of all stripes can add tremendous value to boards and executive teams by helping them navigate these waters. In particular, advisors with cybersecurity backgrounds are acutely needed. Recently, the SEC (Security & Exchange Commission) published updated regulations on the reporting of cybersecurity risks and events. At almost 190 pages, the regulations are substantial in their scope. Their demands on boards and executive teams is going to be both painful and felt everywhere. Getting this right the first time will be critical.


What would be your dream company/organization to work with as a board advisor/NED?


I have a subspecialty in multinational cybersecurity, privacy, and AI law, and so multinationals are a natural home for me, especially in the technology sector. I spent nearly two years providing legal analysis to a defence contractor with operations in 17 nations and can say working with professionals from other cultures was very enriching. I have also advised early stage companies in the technology sector and found working with startup teams to be both intellectually demanding and very rewarding. Recently, here in Seattle, we had Tech Week, which was a week of events devoted to technology startups, especially in generative AI, and seeing all of the new industry developments was inspiring, to say the least.

What book would you recommend to VAB members that might improve their skills in corporate

governance, board advisory or boosting board-to-executive team communications?


Perhaps the most important book I have read over the past decade or so is The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, by Nassim Nicolas Taleb, which is part of a series called Incerto ("uncertainty"). In the book, Taleb describes the concept of a Black Swan and why human beings are so poor at understanding risk. As I mentioned earlier, such an event represents a change that is profound yet predictable only in hindsight. The financial crisis of 2008 and the 9/11 attacks are considered "bad" Black Swans, while the invention of the Gutenberg press and the rise of the public Internet are "good" ones. The spread of generative AI throughout the world is unquestionably a Black Swan, although I suspect we will not know which kind for many years. Taleb’s strength is helping us understand that traditional Gaussian or "bell" curves lead us astray when analysing risk because the risks we should care about disappear from view in the tails of the curve. This can be a hard pill to swallow, and I can see why his critics are a so vociferous. I have re-read (actually, re-listened to) it at least a half-dozen times and I always find more to learn.


Follow Scott Giordano on LinkedIn.





What inspired you to become a member of the Virtual Advisory Board community?


After an interesting and productive professional career, in different business sectors, industries, countries and cultures, the time has come to contribute my acquired experience in a different way: in a new life context of life adapted to the moment or phase of life in which I currently find myself. Taking on the role of advisor is a challenge for those who come from the corporate world where the day-to-day is characterised by direct action in the definition of strategies, in the achievement of results, in the development of the organisations' talent, and in constant interaction with the different internal and external audiences. Facing this new challenge requires a revised mental approach, the development of new business relationships (networking) and learning based on the experience of others. That is why I felt joining the VAB community was the right step for me to take as I begin walking through this new path of my professional life -- at this stage in my life.


In what area do you feel board advisors can add the most value for Boards of Directors (BoDs) and executive teams?


One of the most important responsibilities for Boards of Directors is CEO succession and that of his direct reporting team. During my professional career, one of the areas on which I placed most emphasis was the definition of talent development and succession planning. These two topics are ones that guarantee any organisation will have prepared human resources teams; ready to act in a timely way to assume future responsibilities for the development of strategic plans and achievement of necessary results for business growth. It is therefore key that as an advisor you make the Board of Directors aware of this task, so they can complete it in the correct manner and with the necessary frequency.


What would be your dream company/organization to work with as a board advisor/NED?


It would be a company or organisation where the development of human talent accompanies (in the same order of priority) the definition of strategic plans, the balance of the achievement or fulfilment of short- and medium-term results, and the execution of investment and development plans and the addressing of ESG-related issues.

What book would you recommend to VAB members that might improve their skills in corporate

governance, board advisory or boosting board-to-executive team communications?


I would recommend any of the following books as insightful and important reads for anyone wishing to understand better board and corporate governance: Boards that Deliver by Ram Charan; Rethinking Success by J. Douglas Holladay; Scaling Up by Verne Harnish; and Switch by Chip Heath & Dan Heath.


Follow Maximo Dolman on LinkedIn.



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