What it’s like to be on the board of a Fortune 500 company

Post by whack » Wed, Jan 10, 2018, 2:40 AM UTC

enraged_camel wrote: post #28

whack wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can say the same thing about 10 different factors. "If the employees aren't happy, nothing is going to get done." "If your suppliers aren't happy, you aren't going to have anything to build your product with" "If the government isn't happy, they are going to shut you down" In the abstract, they are all important. Practically, if you try to focus on everything at once, you aren't going to get anything done. One of…

No, not really. Your source of revenue is by far the most important thing to focus on. If you treat your clients well, you can charge a premium, and the additional revenue means you can pay your employees more and have more leverage when talking to suppliers.

Post by cylinder » Wed, Jan 10, 2018, 2:49 AM UTC

Johnny555 wrote: post #44

ilamont wrote: post #2

And if a board member isn’t performing well, we get rid of them. I’ve been on boards where the SEC is in there. I’ve been on boards where the Department of Justice is involved. You don’t want that. You destroy companies when you do that. You destroy shareholder value. So what you try to do as board is make sure people are above board. You guard against anything that hurts the companies from an outside perspective. It…

It all comes back to governance and taking care of shareholders. Which explains why companies are like they are -- if the board had a fiduciary responsibility to employees first and shareholders second, maybe workers would be better off.

Post by imjustsaying » Wed, Jan 10, 2018, 3:21 AM UTC

Post by fjsolwmv » Wed, Jan 10, 2018, 4:13 AM UTC

kemiller2002 wrote: post #16

ilamont wrote: post #2

And if a board member isn’t performing well, we get rid of them. I’ve been on boards where the SEC is in there. I’ve been on boards where the Department of Justice is involved. You don’t want that. You destroy companies when you do that. You destroy shareholder value. So what you try to do as board is make sure people are above board. You guard against anything that hurts the companies from an outside perspective. It…

A lot of times they do. What you have to remember is that board members serve multiple functions. They are partially there to help inroads into other companies. They are their to provide insight into how the organization is to do business and what direction it should take. A lot of times this means that the people on the board need an inside perspective of what's going on in the industry. Other functions they serve i…

Post by firstplacelast » Wed, Jan 10, 2018, 4:18 AM UTC

elhudy wrote: post #6

CPLX wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's sort of intended to be insidery. Everyone scratches each other's back. It's kind of similar to the dynamic of investors in hot tech companies, where people have a network of contacts they can leverage, etc.

It's really a perfect trifecta of CEOs, board members, and investors all being each others CEOs, board members, and investors. To put it in Bill Burr's words,"It's a big CLUB. And YOU AIN'T IN IT."