This piece is part of a series of observations from our past Directors to Watch, encompassing the ways board service has changed since they received the honor and what they are doing to ensure they continue to thrive as board members amid an evolving landscape.
Lynn N. Clarke
Directors to Watch 2020
The Vollrath Company, Just Born Inc., Basic American Foods, Kalsec Inc.
Since 2020, I’ve grown and changed more than the boards I serve on because of four significant experiences. As an independent director, I’ve led or been involved in:
• Carrying out five CEO successions, planned and unplanned.
• Helping to assess the strategic value of “divesting” to grow, resulting in three times EBITDA growth.
• Creating programs to help next generation shareholders become effective family directors.
• Working with a family chair to build an entirely new board as a result of a shareholder buyout.
When I think about the top two issues from five years ago, I reflect on the positive impacts of those topics on how we work today. In 2020, COVID-19 and “big data” were big topics. As difficult as COVID-19 was, the lasting impacts from what we learned are invaluable. Thanks to “Zooms,” we have increased our teams’ satisfaction via more flexible workplaces. We devote precious board meeting time to strategic issues since committee meetings are now remote. “Big data” was to transform everything. Today, AI is truly reshaping how we work as well as the work itself. Large language models have already changed how we write, take notes and develop videos, increasing speed and reducing costs.
My crystal ball is murky, but recent experiences suggest that board effectiveness will be an even hotter issue. How can a board develop objective metrics? How can it measure its impact? How can a board increase its shared accountability without interfering with company leadership? What does a further positive evolution of the CEO/board relationship bring?
If I could do it all over again, I would have interviewed family boards more thoroughly than they interviewed me. Can I trust shareholder board members and CEOs? Do I enjoy them as people? If I had asked deeper questions, as I do now, I would have avoided a few missteps.