One Minute Governance

I'm putting a definition of "good corporate governance" out there just so that you know exactly what I mean when I refer to good governance. Feel free to let me know what you think.

Background music is Of the Stars by KC Roberts & the Live Revolution

SCRIPT

Welcome to season three of One Minute Governance. It’s been a long break, and it’s good to be back. I signed off the last season with a bunch of unfinished business, including a threat to write a book. Lots more to come on all of that very soon. In the meantime, let’s kick off season three by revisiting the heart and soul of what OMG is all about. You all know by now that I like to define corporate governance as “the way that decisions are made in a corporation…meaning ANY incorporated entity regardless of structure, purpose, size, or complexity.” A lot of people have a hard time with this definition because it doesn’t say anything about boards, or managers, or rules, or processes, or anything like that. Putting it another way, my definition doesn’t tell anyone what they should be DOING. I mean, decisions can just kind of happen, right? Without anyone thinking about or doing anything at all. Well, in my opinion, just letting things happen is still corporate governance, for better or for worse. But is it GOOD governance? What does GOOD governance even mean in the first place? I’ve thought about this a bit over the past few months and think I have an answer that will at least serve as a good starting point for season three. Here it is: Good corporate governance means creating conditions that maximize the likelihood that effective decisions will get made. There it is! It might not sound like much, but sit with it for a while before accepting or rejecting it entirely. I’ve had a couple of months to live with it and you know what? It grows on me more each day. Welcome to a new season of OMG.

Season 3 of OMG is finally almost here! I can't wait to dive back in.

Oh, and if you like the background music, the song is Of the Stars by my band KC Roberts & the Live Revolution. Check out the whole new album, Grit, here:

https://ffm.to/kclr-grit

SCRIPT:

Season three of One Minute Governance launches on Monday June 27th, just a few days away. I’ve always thought of OMG as a platform for taking complex topics in corporate governance and finding ways to make them more accessible. Or even sometimes to find seemingly simple elements of corporate governance and showing that they might be more complex than they seem. If I have an overarching goal for the podcast, it’s to provide boards, senior executives, advisors, and other governance nerds a new lens through which they can ask questions, provoke discussions, or just sit and think about how organizational leaders might do things a bit better tomorrow than they did yesterday. In episode one, I’ll finally take an audacious stab at figuring out what GOOD corporate governance might be, followed in episode two with a definition of BAD governance that’s might be even more ambitious. We’ll do some, exploring, some storytelling, and some mythbusting, all a minute or so at a time. Oh and this year’s background music is Of the Stars, performed by my band KC Roberts & the Live Revolution from our new album Grit. If you like it, it’s available wherever you get your music.

Thanks for sticking with me through two seasons and 101 episodes!  

Episode 100 was supposed to be the season 2 finale, until something annoying came across my desk...

We already established that learning about corporate governance can be embarrassing.  I think I might be able to help.  One way is by writing a book.  I'll tell you more soon, but in the meantime, send me positive vibes and any questions you think I could help to address.

There are lots of reasons why successful and influential people might feel reluctant to go back and learn the basics of corporate governance.  That's OK, although I wonder if we might be able to find a way to make it more comfortable...

I rely on other, smarter people for inspiration.  To that end, I wanted to do an episode acknowledging some organizations out there that push my brain in new directions when it comes to corporate governance and leadership.  It's not an exhaustive list, nor is it intended to be a "best of" - it's just some folks who have been on my mind of late.  Please check them out!

www.the51.com

https://www.blackopportunityfund.ca/

https://www.futuredirectors.com/

https://fnmpc.ca/

https://filene.org/

https://neythri.org/

"Where were the directors?" was basically the question that launched the corporate governance "industry" in Canada.  Turns out it's still an important question...

Corporate governance basically never changes, and every time any little thing happens it seems like a huge deal.  Why is that?

It can be hard to engage entrepreneurs in conversations about governance.  They have a lot of other important stuff on their minds.  Here are a few tips.