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The Corporate Board That Works for YouIn the wake of Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and now even GE, the business press is awash in “thought pieces” about how to improve corporate
governance. Corporate boards of directors have received plenty of scrutiny in this environment, and there is no dearth of opinions as to why they are – or are not – the cause of so many lapses of integrity in the executive suites of major corporations. An intriguing notion, however, might be to imagine what difference it would make if corporate leaders had, in addition to the traditional corporate board of directors, their own personal boards of directors.
This is an idea popularized some years ago by Jim Collins, then a professor at Stanford Business School, and author of two best-selling books on strategy and business, Built To Last and Good to Great. Collins has
written about how he came up with the idea for a personal board for his students, and then came to see its power and usefulness for anyone. “Used well,” he says, “a personal board helps you find creative alternatives to life’s challenges and is a terrific place to turn for advice on handling crises and ethical dilemmas.” Your personal board of directors is more than a set of informal business advisors, it’s composed of people you respect for their core values, people
who you expect will hold you accountable to stay true to what’s really important in your life. The best personal boards include people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, people who can be counted on to help you see beyond the conventional wisdom. Some may be close friends or associates, but that’s not necessary, or even desirable. Experience, insight, and generosity of spirit are what qualify your personal board
members, not whether they can help you get ahead in your business or profession. Interestingly, a recent poll commissioned by the National Federation of Independent Business and Wells Fargo & Co. found that two-thirds of small business owners have one person – often a family member – who they consult before making a critical business decision. Even though they frequently seek advice from people outside their company (usually
accountants, lawyers, or other business owners), they appear to value the thoughtfulness of someone they trust and respect to give them a shot of the truth. These business owners know that when confronting tough issues, they don’t just need expertise, they need someone who can evoke their “best self.” How much more powerful would it be to have not one, but a whole “boardroom” full of such people? The very act of putting together and using a
personal board means that you are being intentional about your own development, and about becoming the kind of person you want to be. It’s hard to imagine a $6,000 shower curtain, bought and paid for with shareholders’ money, in the home of the executive who has made a commitment to living his life and running his company in such a conscious way. Collins suggests using your personal board selectively, calling upon them
when the questions are big and the stakes for you personally are high. On a day-to-day basis, it might be enough to hold imaginary board meetings, envisioning what each board member would say about your situation. He recommends that you write your own personal “annual report” to your board to help you clarify your own thinking and take stock of how you’re doing. “The best payment,” he says, “is simply to emulate them by giving time and
guidance to others, especially younger people who need mentors.” 
According to a recent study of 13,000 workers in all major industries by HR consulting firm Watson Wyatt, less than half the workers responding to the survey (49%) said they understood the moves their companies are making to achieve new business goals. That's down 20 percentage points from a
similar survey in the year 2000. In a survey of US corporate directors conducted by consulting firm McKinsey & Co. earlier this year, directors rate 45% of their colleagues as average to low performers. In 1982 there were about two dozen document shredding companies compared to between 500 and 600 now, according to a report in the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times. 
Techflexing Defined as "using technology to liberate the 9-to-5 workday for flexibility and personal enrichment" by authors Kurt Sandholtz, Brooklyn Derr, Kathy Buckner and Dawn Carlson in their new book Beyond Juggling:
Rebalancing Your Busy Life, techflexing enables you to get your work done during the hours that make the most sense for you. To be a successful techflexer, you should work in a profession or an organizational culture that is conducive to flexible work arrangements like telecommuting, and be a technically savvy self-starter who can work alone and set and maintain boundaries. 
Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading, by Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky. What I like about it: The authors take a very
personal and practical approach to the real challenges of leadership that people in many contexts and cultures face daily when they choose to "raise important questions, speak to higher values, and surface unresolved conflicts."
Beth Bloomfield
Executive Coach, Strategy Consultant
Principal, Bloomfield Associates  Say Yes to Change: 25 Keys to Making Change Work for
You, by George and Sedena Cappannelli. What I like about it: This easy-to-read book on ways to manage successfully through major transitions has excellent self-observation, journaling, physical, meditation and thinking exercises at the end of each of these 25 key chapters to explore these concepts.
Nancy Eberhardt
Senior Strategist
Freeman Business Solutions
Share what you’re into — books, articles, movies, music, websites — with others on the list! Send us the title and author or other pertinent information, along with one sentence on what you like about it, and if we use it in A Different Optic we’ll not only quote you, we’ll provide a link to your website. 
"Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine."
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Beth Bloomfield and her colleague Sheryl Phillips – partners in Coaching
Frameworks, LLC -- will make a presentation on their approach to Designing a Coaching Program at a two-day symposium on coaching sponsored by the Capital Area Network for Organizational Excellence (CANOE). The session will take place on October 11, from 1:30pm to 3:00pm, at the Martin Luther King Library, 9th and G Streets, NW, Washington, DC. For
information, call Jane Mayne at (202) 267-3606. Beth will join a panel of coaches for a discussion of Executive Coaching for Business and Corporations sponsored by the Howard County (Maryland) Human Resource Society. An excellent opportunity to learn more about how coaching can work for your company -- panelists will represent several different coaching approaches, and will be available to answer questions from the audience.
The event will be held in Columbia, Maryland, on October 17, 2002, from 8 - 10:30. For information and registration, contact Illysa Izenberg at (301) 602-6414. Beth and two other Washington-area coaches, Randy Chittum and Alicia Rodriguez, will present a workshop on Building Leadership Capacity in Your Organization for members and guests of the Washington, DC chapter of
the Institute of Management Consultants on Saturday, November 16, 2002, from 9:00am to 1:00pm. at George Washington University. For details, and to register, visit the IMCDC website. | | | | | | | | At Bloomfield Associates, we believe the best way to appreciate the benefits
of executive coaching is not just to read about it, but to experience it for yourself. That’s why we offer a no-cost, no-obligation coaching consultation where you can be coached by a professional, certified executive coach. Click here or call 410-626-6008 to schedule an appointment.
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