天美传媒

A strong trust-based relationship between boards of directors and management is key to corporate strategy at any time, but it鈥檚 even more so in times of uncertainty like the present.

That was one of the main themes of a two-day Corporate Governance Conference organized this week by 天美传媒鈥檚 Center for Corporate Governance and the . The conference, sponsored by the , brought academic experts in corporate governance, CEOs and other top executives together on 天美传媒鈥檚 new Madrid campus. Speakers included Nobel Prize winner Bengt Holmstr枚m, Oxford University鈥檚 Colin Mayer, Jay Barney of the University of Utah听补苍诲 Ioannis Ioannou of London Business School.

Time and again, speakers stressed that a strong relationship between boards of directors and management teams is key to corporate performance and strategies. Boards have the duty to govern the firm and help develop it sustainably for the long term. That means making decisions on corporate strategy, even in contexts of increasing uncertainty.

Frequent interaction, basis for good governance

鈥淚nteraction is key to the relationship between the board and the management team, in order to be sure that we don鈥檛 miss something. In an uncertain context it is important that they interact frequently, not only once a year,鈥� said Tob铆as Mart铆nez, CEO of Cellnex.

Jay Barney,听professor at the University of Utah, recommended that CEOs follow three strategies to improve their relationship with the board: 鈥淪tay close to stakeholders so that you鈥檙e aware of their problems; focus on one group at a time in order to centralize efforts and minimize response times; and don鈥檛 forget about shareholders.鈥�

Risto Siilasmaa, former Chairman of Nokia, agreed that the relationship between the board and the management team must be based on trust: 鈥淲e need to rebrand Corporate Governance. Rethink it, and make it more attractive.鈥�

Margarethe Wiersema, professor at the University of California, explained how activism affects boards: 鈥淏oards must be more proactive and ask the hard questions on strategy. Communication with institutional investors and keeping them abreast of what鈥檚 going on at the firm is also key.鈥�

Digitalization must be part of agenda

Bengt Holmstr枚m, MIT professsor and Nobel laureate in Economics, spoke about digitalization in boards. 鈥淭he tsunami is coming, boards need to pay attention, as this will change strategy dramatically,鈥� he said. 鈥淏oards must become more involved in strategy, we need a massive shift in mindset,鈥� he said noting that in the case of Apple, for example,听 the board played an important role in helping Steve Jobs see the value of digitalization.

Sustainability enters boardroom

Sophie L麓Helias, head of LeaderXXChange, commented that boards need to make sure that when we talk about purpose 鈥渋t is really integrated into the strategy. Strategy is operational and it needs to integrate governance, environment and social factors, as well as financial factors.鈥�

鈥淭he board of directors has to ensure that a sustainable strategy is set and to ensure that this strategy is set in the long term,鈥� Denise Kingsmill, board member of Inditex, said.

For his part, Jean-Pascal Tricoire, president of Schneider Electric, stressed that it鈥檚 important to have your own sustainability agenda. 鈥淪ustainability changes the purpose of your company,鈥� he said.

鈥淪ustainability is really complex. No one can do everything but everyone needs to do something. Partnership is the way to do it,鈥�, Juvencio Maeztu, Deputy CEO & CFO of Ingka Ikea, added.

Speed to manage uncertainty

For Francisco Reyn茅s, Chairman of Naturgy, 鈥�The pandemic helped us to move quicker. We have realized that a very important crisis may happen. The company may survive with much more simple procedures. We are more efficient in our way of working, more trust in technological aspects.鈥�

Reyn茅s supports the return to face-to-face meetings. 鈥淚 hate Zoom because it reduces a lot of human contact. We have lost the human touch which is very important. For easy decisions this is less important, but Zoom cannot substitute a very important face-to-face discussion, when different points of view are required.鈥�

Ren茅e Adams, professor of the University of Oxford, agreed: 鈥淚n virtual meetings people show off more, but the impact on the results is less significant. They ask fewer questions.鈥�