62. Diverse Leadership and AI Ethics: Jocelyn Moore on Transforming Governance

12/21/23 • 35 min

Jocelyn Moore, a seasoned board member and former NFL executive, shares her diverse career experiences from Capitol Hill to the boardrooms of major technology companies like DraftKings and OppFi. Jocelyn discusses the intricate journey that led her to influential roles in corporate governance, emphasizing the importance of diversity in leadership and the ethical implications of AI in decision-making. This episode not only explores Jocelyn's remarkable career trajectory, but also delves into the broader implications of board composition and technology in modern corporate environments.

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Big Ideas/Thoughts/Quotes:

What was your NFL experience like?

It was like nothing else that I've ever done. Such a tremendous lesson in the art of diplomacy with varying stakeholders, which has prepared me for a lot of the board service that I do now.

Is bipartisanship in Congress possible?

“I'll tell you that I think is really emblematic of how I grew up on Capitol Hill. In [Senator] Zell Miller's office, we had Democrats and Republicans both working in that office - - our political leanings didn't matter, we were all working for the people of Georgia, and that's something that really stuck with me during the 15 years that I worked in the Senate.”

Power of the network leading to DraftKings board

“Roberta Sidney, who you will know, and many in the audience will know - she is amazing. I've never met Roberta, she and I get on a call. We talked about the board opportunity and this particular board was not a good fit. But you know what Roberta did, because she is such a champion of people, a champion of women, she said, "Look, this may not be a good fit, but I'm going to introduce you to my friend Ilana Wolfe.” Ilana is at Goldman and is the driving force behind board diversification at Goldman's portfolio companies.

I talked to Ilana and, little did I know at the time, she was this giant in the space. We talked. I told her about my background, and we left it at that. After about a month went by, she called me back and said, "Hey, Jocelyn, I have this interesting board opportunity that I wanted to run by you -have you heard of the company DraftKings?"”

DraftKings Board Composition as it went Public

Like most public companies before they are public, the board was largely comprised of investors, and I joined soon after it went public in April of 2022. The makeup of the board changed as DraftKings became a public company.

DraftKings' commitment to inclusion, equity and belonging is very strong. At the same time that I joined the board, Valerie Mosley, a giant in Boston, joined the board, so two black women joined the board of DraftKings at the same time, and Michael Jordan became an advisor.

Importance of a board with diverse perspectives

“Board diversity is not a nice to have. It is a must have.”

“When you think about your customer base, whether it's DraftKings, OppFi, whatever company we're talking about, when we look at the makeup of America, it is extraordinarily diverse. When we think about how we create and generate revenue, how we sustain revenue, how we create long-term value, all of those things are dependent upon our customer base. If we do not embrace diversity, we are not maximizing our revenue potential. It is as simple as that.”

Angel Investing

“Entrepreneurs power our economy. They are the ones who are the job creators in our country, and so to understand business and industry, you really have to go where business and industries are. And so that's why it was important for me to get involved with venture investing and angel investing to get a front row seat to industry in ways that I could have never imagined.”

From the On Boards Summit 2023: The coming wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI): What questions should boards be asking?

· How will your company or board be impacted by AI?

· How can we use AI in the future not only internally to improve processes and the sharing of information and data, but also externally in the markets that we are in to improve the client experience, to extend whatever we are doing from a market standpoint?

· We know that AI has shown biases. What are the questions that we, as good corporate citizens, need to ask about the ethics of AI?

How do we best provide guardrails around AI?

We love our listeners! Drop us a line or give us guest suggestions here.

Big Ideas/Thoughts/Quotes:

What was your NFL experience like?

It was like nothing else that I've ever done. Such a tremendous lesson in the art of diplomacy with varying stakeholders, which has prepared me for a lot of the board service that I do now.

Is bipartisanship in Congress possible?

Power of the network leading to DraftKings board

DraftKings Board Composition as it went Public

Importance of a board with diverse perspectives

“Board diversity is not a nice to have. It is a must have.”

Angel Investing

From the On Boards Summit 2023: The coming wave of Artificial Intelligence (AI): What questions should boards be asking?

· How will your company or board be impacted by AI?

· We know that AI has shown biases. What are the questions that we, as good corporate citizens, need to ask about the ethics of AI?

How do we best provide guardrails around AI?

Previous Episode

61. Culture Always Has A Seat At The Table

Paul Braverman was a cultural force behind the growth and success of Wellington Management which currently has over $1.3 trillion under management. Since retiring in 2007, he has served on over 17 boards of directors, including boards of public and private companies and nonprofit organizations. In this episode we discuss the most important drivers of board success.

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Big Ideas/Thoughts/Quotes:

“I think the culture of Wellington is its most sustainable competitive advantage. It always has been, and the culture is basically the name of the book (I wrote) entitled: Client, Firm, Self: The History and Culture of Wellington Management Company. We believed that we existed for the benefit of our clients and that they always came first, and then the firm, and then the individual.”

What was there that allowed Wellington to sustain that very, very, very strong culture for so long?

What we all observed how devoted the founders were to each other, how they watched over each other, took care of each other, helped each other's families. If there were problems, we watched when one of the partners passed away how well they looked after his spouse, things like that - - we learned by observing them.

I said in my final speech when I left the firm, I learned more about life at Wellington than I did about the investment business just by watching the character of these people and how they conducted their lives and treated other people.

How does a board help maintain the culture of the company for which it serves?

The board, I believe, sets a tone at the top, and it is a tone that we exist for the benefit of our clients or our customers. We are accountable to the shareholders. We need to take care of our employees. We need to take care of the cities and the locales that we do business in to help wherever we need to help philanthropically, and to set that tone for the rest of the company. It's not just always business and always profits. You're not going to believe this, but I never had a budget all the years that I was there.

Reputational Risk: with a company like Wellington Management, which works so hard to create the culture and to create the reputation of the company – it often becomes one of, if not the, most valuable asset of a company.

It's one of the most important responsibilities that a board has. The amazing thing about it, Joe, is as hard as we worked on it, as strong as it was, it's still fragile. It's always fragile. It can just be one incident.

Board of One

My worry is that a specialist who doesn't have the broad experience, when we finally get to the point when we have to decide about a cybersecurity attack or something, I don't want the decision to be in a vacuum by one person.

Role of a Board chair

I have chaired a few boards, I chair one now, and what I say to the other board members is, "Before we start, I just want you to know one thing. I work for you, you don't work for me, so I'm here serving you." I think that helps a lot. I'm very transparent. I reach out to them all the time seeking a wider audience.

I set the agenda with the CEO, and I meet with the CEO once a quarter privately to make sure to see how the company's doing. I try to keep myself out of the board meeting as much as possible, other than to make sure everybody stays on track as far as time and that we cover the key points.

Board Chair and the CEO. If they aren't working well together to make sure that the board is being effective, what does a board member do?

To the extent that you don't like something that's going on, you have to go to your chair because at some point, you're violating either the prudent man rule or your fiduciary responsibility. We're fiduciaries so you're going to have to report it and you're going to have to do something about it. Either something has to change, or you have to change in terms of moving on.

Next Episode

63. Stefania Mallett: Navigating board dynamics and entrepreneurial success at an investment backed startup

Stefania Mallett, co-founder and former CEO of ezCater, shares her entrepreneurial journey and insights into effective board governance. She emphasizes the importance of board composition, highlighting the pivotal role of understanding marketplaces and the nuances of investor-backed boards.

Stefania also discusses the crucial dynamic between CEOs and board chairs, the challenges in communicating complex business scenarios to board members and the critical process of succession planning.

We love our listeners! Drop us a line or give us guest suggestions here.

Big Ideas/Thoughts/Quotes:

On Relationship Between Board and CEO/Management in Investment Backed Companies

“.. it's kind of like grandparents. The board cares intensely, but in the end, they hand the baby back and you - the CEO and/or the managing team - you're the parents and you have to deal with all of the colicky moments and all of the ups and downs and all of the difficulties and so much more about what's going on inside the company.”

“It doesn't matter how effective a communicator you are, having been on both sides, I can tell you that the most well-intentioned, most transparent, most forthcoming CEO cannot possibly convey to the board everything that the management team knows.”

Origin Story of ezCater and Early Board

“..we closed [a company I had help found] down on a Thursday. I went home and got drunk on the weekend and on Monday we started the business that turned into ezCater, which was helping make food appear for business meetings[!]”

“Don't bring people onto your board who don't understand your business”

Evolution of the Board through ezCater’s Journey and role of a Board Chair

“we started to get more professional board members who understood our business. We lucked into someone [Chris Cuddy] at Launchpad, who understood marketplace businesses, not specifically in the catering food for work business, but he came out of online travel [marketplace]. It turns out one marketplace is a lot more like another marketplace”

“we lucked into someone who became our board chair and $425 million of venture capital funding from some of the biggest venture companies on the planet later, we are now thousands of times the size we were when we first met this Chris”

I don't have a velvet hammer as much as I'm impatient. Impatience is the mother of invention, and so when I watch Chris Cuddy our board chair do his work I think, "Oh my God, that's just better." He's more patient. He listens. It doesn't really take longer. It feels like a circuitous path to the answer, but it's actually about the same length of time as I would have taken with less angst, less fireworks. The founder and CEO are not necessarily the best board chairs.”

Transition of CEO for ezCater

“the company was ready, and I was ready, and I went to the board meeting a few weeks later and I said, "Guys, I got to go. It's time.”

“We launched a search and found my successor. Because of internal discussions, because of the board's hesitation, because whatever, we ended up taking a year. We had the time, I mean it wasn't like running, screaming for the exits, and I wasn't doing a terrible job. My team was doing a super job”

“When this person started, now it's three months, four months, and it's quite clear, he has experience at the 10X level. He brings in knowledge, not just "I think we should try this,"”

Joe: “You have touched upon series of things that apparently apply to investor-backed companies and startups that also apply to every for-profit company, whether private or public. The importance of the chair, the importance of learning to share power - every CEO has to learn it, every founder has to learn it. Every investor, whether it's a startup or not, has to learn it.”

Effectiveness as a Board Member and Over-boarding

“One of the very best board members I have had in my entire career in all the companies that I've been on or on all boards I've chaired or that I've been on the board is a guy who, when I did his reference checks for him people raved about him and when I would ask, so what's wrong with the guy? Almost every one of them said ‘he's on too many boards.’ ”

“It's important to remember that the board gives you a couple of things that you can't get anywhere else. One is the cadence of every X weeks or X months, you have to report to these people.... There's something about that regular cadence of having to report, that is very valuable.”

The second thing you get from them is perspective. If they are good board members, they bring you a portfolio perspective. You live your life as a portfolio. You can only do one company at a time. Even more industrious and somehow energetic entrepreneurs than I do are involved in two startups at a time, but it's rare....