Director Development - Strategy

I am in the process of developing some on-line strategy development workshops for Board Directors. I would welcome your views on the approach I am taking and perhaps even your help.

To deliver the content in a vibrant and interesting way much of it will be video and I am thinking of:

• videoing the "talking bit" from various boardrooms around the Country
• showing some footage of real strategic facilitation days
• interviewing Chairmen, CEOs, Executive and Non-Executive Directors

If you are a Board Director: -

1. Is this something you would find helpful?
2. Does the approach generally seem right?
3. Would you allow filming in your board room
4. Would you allow filming of a strategy facilitation day (if the day was free!)?
5. Would your board be prepared to be interviewed?

If you are not a Board Director, do you know any that you could pass these questions on to?

Bank of England MUST raise interest rates!

Now if you borrow money you may not think this is good news, but it probably is! The whole financial system struggles with rates so low. If like me you don't borrow money, it is of course excellent news.

FT Exclusive comment:

The UK’s high inflation rate is not simply the result of “one-off” factors but reflects an overly-loose monetary policy stance that has resulted in rapid growth in nominal spending. An early rise in interest rates is necessary to prevent the overshoot being built into inflationary expectations, which would make an eventual return to target more painful to achieve.

Doves argue that inflation would be close to the target but for indirect tax increases over the past year. This is wrong. January’s figures show that consumer price inflation, excluding indirect taxes, was 2.4 per cent in January. This, moreover, is an underestimate of where inflation would be if tax rates had stayed constant, since it assumes that increases are passed on in full to consumers. A more realistic estimate of tax-adjusted inflation is 2.75 per cent.
http://link.ft.com/r/8P1R88/D40Y1A/11EP1/WL9OWI/18J6I1/E4/h?a1=2011&a2=2&a3=15

"Russian Dolls", "Alphabet Soup" and...Shadow Banking!?!

Great article in the FT 03/02/11. New to me, is the term "shadow banking", a practice apparently not new! A seemingly unregulated billion dollar business. The FT article picks up on this shadow banking, refering to "collateralised debt obligations" and "structured investment vehicles". Shadow banking previously refered to as "Russion doll financing" or "alphabet soup". I don't think anybody outside of the system would comprehend the complexities of what is going on, but it is worth (apparently) an eye watering $15,000bn, yes that's $15,000,000,000,000!!! It would seem that the regulators (like the rest of us - but then they shouldn't be...should they?) had assumed that banks are the only really important parts of the financial system. Some of these funds are said to have bigger loan books than Wall St banks.

For me at least this is raising the lid on another fascinating can of worms...is there no end...probably not!

What are the governance issues..........................

Straw Poll on Corporate Governance

I recently commissioned some market research, and whilst the sample was far too small to validate any specific conclusion, it would be fair to say that the following comments typified something like 50% of respondents' attitude to corporate governance and specifically the UK Code:

"We are reluctant converts"

"We tick all the boxes"

"They wouldn't opt in"

"A lot of it is frankly gobbledegook"

What use is UK's Corporate Governance Code?

I have been working with the application of business models for some 20 years now: TQM, BPR, TOC, BEM, EFQM, Lean, etc; all of which have been readily accepted by business and have enjoyed wide use in their time - all are generally seen as effective tools. In developing strategy I have worked with many widely accepted methodologies and tools: Boston matrices, Porter's work, Peter's, Handy, Cole, etc. etc., - all good and accepted with little argument.

"But these are all practical" I hear you cry - well to me, so it the Corporate Governance Code.

For me the Code is both a plumbline and a pathway for improvement. A board can use it to measure where it is, and to shine a light on where it could be - even outlining how! It is a board tool as opposed to a management tool and yet it is often passed to management to "deal with it".

What would it take to get boards to embrace the Code rather than just tick the boxes or shun it altogether? Answers on a post card...

No one is beyond improving their game and when we stop learning and developing we start dying. Even FTSE 100 board directors!

The results of poor governance?!?

Whilst most headline economic indicators might be positive, the above (FT 11/01/12) is definitely not!

It must be Christmas!

The spycam in the board room reveals the truth - there's nobody there, it must be Christmas!

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year - see you in 2011.

Lord Abersoch and Women on the Board - too little

Has anything much changed or is this still too often the reality? BIS released the following text today regarding women in UK board rooms - too little movement?!?

"The CBI has today submitted a detailed response to the call for evidence as part of my review into women on boards. I welcome the hard work that has been put into this and their recommendations will help to inform the final report that I will present to Government in February.

"I am pleased to see that this issue has got a strong push behind it from business, but as the recently published Cranfield report highlighted there has been too little movement on diversity in the boardroom for too long. To see a step change on this we need to everyone to pull together, British businesses and their shareholders, the Government and the headhunting profession, to deliver the changes that will help women to achieve these roles."

Notes to editors
1. Lord Davies was tasked by Vince Cable on 6^th August to develop a business strategy to increase the number of women on the board of listed companies in the UK. Lord Davies is expected to report his findings to government in February 2011.

2. The call for evidence as part of Lord Davies review of the lack of women on British boards closed on Tuesday 30^th November 2010, after receiving more than 2,600 responses.

3. BIS' online newsroom contains the latest press notices, speeches, as well as video and images for download. It also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom for more information.

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR MERVYN DAVIES REVIEW

To consider options for promoting gender equality on the Boards of listed companies. In doing so to consider the obstacles to women becoming directors of listed company boards including looking at existing research about women on listed company boards and recent developments in international practice and to make proposals on what action should be taken to improve the position.

It should involve interested parties including Board members, executive search firms, investors and other interested parties in considering proposals for change.

The business strategy will be presented jointly to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Minister for Women and Equalities. The business strategy should deliver a set of recommendations with supporting material outlining the thinking behind the recommendations and the views of key interested parties. The final recommendations should be provided by February 2011.