234. How might we empower our loudest directors to be better listeners?

10/17/24 • 1 min

This season, every episode of OMG focuses on a question that directors really need to answer.

OMG is written, produced, narrated and scored by Matt Fullbrook.

TRANSCRIPT:

Question #32: How might we empower the loudest directors to be better listeners? Having an ultra-confident expert on a board is a blessing and a curse. I suspect I don’t really have to explain what I mean – it’s pretty obvious. I mean, confident expertise, when the expertise is relevant to the work of the board, is a shortcut to managing information asymmetry and ensuring the board is able to be, y’know, useful. But there’s a very fine line between high confidence and OVERconfidence. Overconfidence is dangerous. I talked about this back in episode 119, and there’s tonnes of cool stuff you can read about the perverse relationship between expertise and confidence by Googling “overconfidence effect”. The other issue with confidence is that the most confident people on boards are the ones who will most readily participate, and will feel most uncomfortable with even the briefest breaks in action. But think about those of us in the room who have less expertise, but whose perspectives might still be critical to making sure we consider our decisions most thoughtfully. We might need a few more seconds or minutes to think. We might need a bit more information. We might not have the confidence or footing to challenge the experts in the room. The moment those experts start getting expert-y, the quieter among us will be more likely to just defer. And that’s a missed opportunity for everyone. Even our experts would be better off having more perspectives to consider. So, what approaches might you try to empower your experts to be listeners first?

This season, every episode of OMG focuses on a question that directors really need to answer.

OMG is written, produced, narrated and scored by Matt Fullbrook.

TRANSCRIPT:

Previous Episode

233. How might we empower our quietest directors to make an impact?

This season, every episode of OMG focuses on a question that directors really need to answer.

OMG is written, produced, narrated and scored by Matt Fullbrook.

TRANSCRIPT:

Question #31: how might we empower our quietest directors to make an impact? There’s a surprisingly common and patently absurd notion in the world of boards and corporate governance. It goes something like this: when we recruit a new director, we don’t really expect them to contribute much in the first year – mostly we want them to listen and learn. Most of you OMG listeners will be familiar with this position, and already know that it’s kinda dumb. Because here’s the thing: board seats are scarce. Precious, even. Why the heck would you be OK with one of those seats being filled with someone who’s not empowered to engage, participate and contribute on equal footing with the rest of the board? A much less dumb approach to a new director would be to ask yourself, “what would it take for this new director to participate at 100% from day 1, and how are we going to do our best to make sure that it’ll happen?” Now think about the quietest director at the table, whether they’re new or not. Most of the boards I meet are sitting there wishing that director would say more and participate more willingly. Well, what would it take for that director to participate more, and how are you going to do your best to make it happen. Spoiler alert: just pointing your finger at them and asking them to participate isn’t going to get it done. Don’t be lazy. Do the work.

Next Episode

235. What's at the top of our expertise wish list?

This season, every episode of OMG focuses on a question that directors really need to answer.

OMG is written, produced, narrated and scored by Matt Fullbrook.

TRANSCRIPT:

Question #33: What’s at the top of our expertise wish list? It’s been a couple of months since episode 207 where I urged you to consider what, specifically, makes a director great. I have asked *many* directors and executives that question and they have never, ever, answered by listing areas of expertise. And I think that makes sense, right? There’s no type or depth of expertise that, on its own, might make someone a great director. But that doesn’t mean we don’t need experts. In general, we’ve been conditioned to believe that the table stakes for boards include things like legal, audit, finance, strategy, executive experience, and so on. I could easily make a strong case for all of those. Without much more effort, I could make a case that they’re expendable. It’s also tempting to zoom in on emerging topics like AI or cybersecurity or DEI or modern slavery or whatever. Also all good options. And if we get an AI expert who’s also a great director who could possibly deny we’ve accomplished something important? But there are only so many seats at the table and we can’t tick every expertise box. And sometimes we might actually want TWO experts in the same area, right? So they can validate each other? I guess what I’m saying is that all expertise is optional, so if we’re resisting the urge to anchor to the status quo what would be at the top of our wish list? If we could add precisely one new area of expertise to our board, what would it be?