The Board Success Podcast

In this episode we’re joined by Non Executive Director and esteemed Governance expert Julie Garland McLelland who shares her insights on how to document board meetings effectively.

Julie has served on a multitude of boards and her experience in the boardroom includes Chairing the board of an ASX listed business. She is also a frequent speaker at conferences and a prized reference for journalists, where her comments have featured in ABC News’ Nightly Business Report, The Business Programme, The Australian Financial Review, The Financial Times (Britain), Company Director Journal, Keeping Good Companies, and other quality publications.

Julie has more than 20 years’ experience delivering education programs for the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) including 14 courses that she has created. She has also developed and delivered director education for the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Director Institute, Governance Institute of Australia, College of Laws, University of Sydney, CPA Australia, The Taiwan Corporate Governance Association, The Oman Centre for Corporate Governance and Sustainability, and Better Boards Ltd. 

In this episode, Julie shares her ‘TRICCy” model for recording boardroom discussions and decisions. She provides practical advice on gathering necessary information, conducting research, and ensuring the content's accuracy, relevance, and quality.

By the end of this episode, you will have gained valuable insights, enabling you to create brilliant board papers that effectively support the decision-making process in your organisation. 


WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• How to write minutes for an effective board meeting (04:00)
• Julie's great model to address tricky minutes (06:50)
• Controlling information flow and access to the minutes (12:40)
• Managing in-camera sessions to reduce anxiety in meetings (16:15)
• The legal side of writing board minutes (19:50)
• Dealing with conflicts with board members on recording minutes (25:30)
• Standing by your principles, ethics, and morals when writing minutes (30:32)

QUOTES
“Minutes are confidential, but they're not legally privileged.” -Julie Garland McLelland

“Your duty as a director doesn't absolve you from your duty to obey other laws.” -Julie Garland McLelland

“The last thing you want is for a regulator, or worse still, an opposing barrister, to read through your minutes and come to the conclusion that the board is inclined to occasionally fabricate the information” -Julie Garland McLelland
“The important thing to remember is once a decision is made, it is the board's decision. And even if you vote against it, and passionately did not want it, it's the board's decision” -Julie Garland McLelland

In today's fast-paced and constantly changing world, having a strong sense of who you are and what you stand for is more critical than ever. Knowing yourself and what you stand for and stand against is the key to building a solid foundation for your personal and professional life. 

In this episode, we'll explore why understanding your values is crucial, especially when making decisions in the boardroom. Guest expert Mags Bell has completed more than 60,000 hours coaching leaders and influencers, and helped them to grow their lives and businesses.

According to Mags, values are the bedrock of leadership. They are what guide us through difficult decisions, and they are what inspire us to lead with integrity and purpose. In the boardroom, knowing your values is essential to making decisions aligning with your board’s principles and vision.


WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Building trust in leadership (03:23)
• Bringing the authentic self to work (04:43)
• The importance of knowing your values (10:55)
• The dangers of going against your values (17:27)
• The things that drive values (21:46)
• “Leaving your ego at the door”  (26:17)

QUOTES
“How can you possibly lead others when you don't even know yourself?” -Mags Bell

“We know when we've gone against our values, even if we don't know what those values are” -Mags Bell

“If we're going to get people to follow us, we better make sure we have the best ‘me’ that shows up.” -Mags Bell


RESOURCES MENTIONED

‘Silencing Your Inner Critic’ Masterclass

This episode of The Board Success Podcast is from the Non Executive Director Insider Insights Podcast. In this episode, we are joined by Professor Andrew MacLeod. Andrew is a Non Executive Chair at Griffin Law, NED for Burnham Global, the Outdoor Education Group, Arabian Leopard Fund and also held advisory board roles at LendSend and Keele University.

Andrew highlights the significant value board members can add to organisations when they apply a social impact lens. He demonstrates his deep international expertise in this space as he contemplates various board discussion scenarios and focuses on ESG and its role in increasing company value, managing risks and reputations and creating opportunities.

This episode is for you if you're an executive aiming to secure a board role and want to differentiate yourself by highlighting the value of social impact and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations.


WHAT YOU’LL LEARN FROM THIS EPISODE: 

• COVID-19 and how it has changed board meetings (04:30)
• Remote working - is it a good or a bad thing? (05:50)
• Why social risk is the only area of risk (07:05)
• What does a board value proposition really mean (11:50)
• Why Australia is now one of the most socialist countries (18:55)
• How to properly manage activist shareholder pressures (23:10)
• Abuse of women and children in the aid industry (25:55)
• Tokenism - the key to diversity (34:20)
• The importance of performing a social audit before accepting a board appointment (37:15)
• Top three tips for starting out as a board member (40:58)

Quotes
“The first thing you've got to be able to do is really understand what sort of board you're wanting to help and refine what is the skill set that you are selling into that board.” - Professor Andrew MacLeod 
“Start really, really working your network and telling people you're looking and asking for advice” - Professor Andrew MacLeod 
"90% of board roles come out of networks, they don't come out of job advertisements." -Professor Andrew MacLeod 

In this episode, guest expert Gareth Benson discusses the Ideas Economy and creating business growth opportunities through unlocking the tremendous potential from data-driven decisions. With the rise of ChatGPT and other Artificial Intelligence (AI) platforms,  understanding the impact of Intellectual Property and data on business has never been more important. 2022 was the year of cybersecurity, data and privacy,  2023 is the year of Artificial Intelligence.

It is important for Company Directors to understand the importance of Intellectual Property as an asset class and how to protect and profit from ideas. This podcast assists businesses to form strong policies and provides guidance on navigating the ‘ideas’ and ‘intellectual property’ landscape. 

Gareth Benson is a published author, commercial and Intellectual Property lawyer, lecturer delivering workshops in Education, Digital Innovation and Intellectual Property Law for RMIT University and Charles Darwin University. 

As a qualified commercial and Intellectual property lawyer Gareth assists in the protection and commercialisation of new Ideas and the humans that create them. With unique commercial skills he offers an inspired outlook to the creation and leveraging of intangible assets, known as Intellectual Property. This includes Trademarks, Patents, Designs and Copyright. 

Gareth  actively works with boards and executive teams in the Gig economy. He believes that with the advent of Artificial Intelligence and digital industries it is more important than ever for board members to understand the role of Intellectual Property in business. 


WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• What is an intellectual property lawyer? (02:15)
• Intellectual property ownership vs AI (07:20)
• How is law catching up with technology (10:50)
• AI and the metaverse (12:22)
• Protecting your brand name (13:19)
• The power of trademarks (14:20)
• Understanding intellectual property and its value (21:02)
• How to protect your intellectual property (24:00)
• Creating a culture of idea generation (28:10)
• The power of intellectual property in the 21st century (31:11)

QUOTES
“If you're going to take an idea out to market, you have to build a solid vessel.” -Gareth Benson

“In a digital world where you still live in a world of ideas, trademarks help protect a badge of origin.” -Gareth Benson

“We live in an ideas economy” - Gareth Benson

COVID has a massive impact on our wellbeing. For some it was an opportunity to slow down and focus on health and mindset, but for many it resulted in a vast array of issues from carrying extra weight, to fearing the outdoors and a thousand other side effects that are impacting on our wellbeing. 

Shaun Tucker of Healthy CEOs; a company dedicated to helping business owners and their employees to be in their best shape -  physically, mentally, and professionally, joins us in the episode to discuss the challenges to mastering our health. Shaun  is a physical performance practitioner who has worked with high level athletes, CEOs, directors, executives, and small business owners. Shaun blends ancient wisdom and technologies with modern science to combine mindset, exercise, nutrition and lifestyle to bring an all-encompassing result driven approach to help his clients perform in the top 1%.

From taking control by understanding your body type and how to nourish it, to the small steps we can all take to see great results, these prompts will help you to master your health to win.

On a larger scale, recent Victorian changes to OHS legislation has placed the obligations of employee wellbeing firmly in the hands of the organisation and made them responsible for creating comprehensive policies to prevent, report and provide services to employees in the area of psychosocial hazards. This is a big umbrella that covers bullying, harassment, managerial support and the onus is on the business to provide safer work spaces. 

Shaun discusses these new changes and gives his tips for boards to implement safeguards. 

Listen to this episode now to discover how you can win by mastering your health!


WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• What is a physical performance practitioner (02:09)
• The importance of health and wellness (03:00)
• Top tips for improving your health (04:50)
• How is health not the goal but the vehicle? (06:30)
• Where to start understanding your body type (08:50)
• The importance of taking time for yourself (14:52)
• Creating an environment where people can be vulnerable (17:48)
• What is a defensible position and why is it important (22:30)
• Why you should allow your employees to flourish (23:35)

QUOTES
The time of the day when when you're eating is actually more important than what you're sort of putting into your body - Shaun Tucker
It's not so much about achieving the goal, it's actually more about the pursuit of the goal, that gets these people really fired up. - Shaun Tucker
When an employee is able to flourish at work, it's like planting a seed in a very fertile soil versus something that's like sand. - Shaun Tucker

Starting a business from scratch and making it successful is no easy feat. In the highly competitive commercial landscape, carving out your own niche can be especially difficult.

In this episode, Kate Dillon shares her story of splitting her time between her role as Director of Employee Strategy and Experience at Gilbert & Tobin Lawyers and building her niche handbag brand, She Lion. 

Unfortunately, there isn’t much need for a designer handbag during a global lockdown and Kate’s business, like many others was facing disaster. As a mum, who should have been on maternity leave following the arrival of her second child, it would have been understandable to let the business fall victim to the pandemic.

This is the story of a tenacious business women who took the bull by the horns and defined her own story. Not only did she raise her business out of the ashes, but she empowered 21 other local businesses to rise with her.

And ‘Walk Fearlessly”, “Actually I can” and “Support Local” branded together to become a force to be reckoned with and a true heart-warming winner in what was a bleak time in Melbourne, Australia. 

Kate's entrepreneurial journey is a great example of how to think strategically, be resilient and lead by example. 


WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• The intellectual side of the business (03:20)
• How to win the war on talent (04:40)
• How Kate got into the fashion world (06:05)
• How the pandemic has changed businesses (08:59)
• Scaling from local to international sales (15:35)
• How to make a difference through advocacy (21:45)

QUOTES
“It's about the true value you provide, rather than the number of hours that you work.” -Kate Dillon

“There's a huge strength in vulnerability.” -Kate Dillon

“Every person should own their power and know that if they want to do something, they can and it won't necessarily be easy.” -Kate Dillon

For the longest time, women have always been at a disadvantage in both personal and professional arenas. We may think that because of how society is evolving, women are now placed on an equal playing field. However, we’ve inherited systems and structures filled with invisible obstacles that prevent women to compete on the same terms in the corporate landscape.
In this episode, we explore The Gender Penalty with Anneli Blundell. Also known as the “Professional People Whisperer”! Anneli utilises her vast knowledge earned from decades of experience in bringing everyday behaviours and communication habits to getting results. 
Anneli is an advocate of addressing the real problem in women's development. And that is eradicating structures that prevent women excelling in the workspace. She uses the game analogy to better highlight that work was built by men, for men, when women weren’t on the playing field.
Anneli shares The Gender Penalty which are the invisible barriers that hold women back in their careers. This is influenced by the roles women play in real life that impact how they are in the workplace and the difficulty of balancing ‘ladylike’ with ‘leaderlike’. 
This is an interesting episode you shouldn’t miss as Anneli shares golden nuggets on how everyone in society can help lift up the pressures women have in their personal and professional lives and how to fully support them for the success they are made for.
WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• What inspired Anneli to create Gender Penalty (02:25)
• Two schools of thought about women development (04:03)
• The good and the bad in being able to work from home (08:12)
• The importance of bringing structural inequities to the board (13:05)
• Key concepts of equality and equity (16:23)
• The Tall Shopper and Short Shopper analogy (19:27)
• How do we balance the diversity of thinking in the workplace (24:00)
• The Five Gender Penalties (31:10)
• The difference of how women and communication and its impact on the board (38:15)

QUOTES
"Visibility is very closely linked to success. If I can’t see you, I can’t value you." -Anneli Blundell

"Women have two jobs. Make no mistake. When they have families, they have two jobs." -Anneli Blundell

"I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve got targets coming in and a lot more responsibility on Directors in the DEI space." -Anneli Blundell

"Women are asked to defend, justify and explain more than men." - Anneli Blundell


RESOURCES

The Gender Penalty: Turning Obstacles into Opportunities for Women at Work

When Men Lead Women: Navigating the Facts, Fears and Frustrations of Gender Equality as a Male Leader

The ability and opportunity to make contributions that bring value to the boardroom require Non Executive Directors to tap into their authenticity. 

This episode of The Board Success Podcast is from the Non Executive Director Insider Insights Podcast. In this episode, we are joined by Lisa Chung AM, who has served as Non Executive Director for Australian Unity Limited, AV Jennings Limited, Warren and Mahoney, the Committee for Sydney, the Sydney Community Foundation, and Artspace/Visual Arts Centre Limited, as well as Chair of The Front Project and a Trustee of the Foundation of the Art Gallery of NSW. She has since taken on the role of Chair at Australian Unity.

Lisa emphasized the importance of living authentically in serving others through board membership. She discusses how authenticity helps board members build trust with their colleagues, shareholders, and stakeholders.

Authenticity is key in this process, as it resonates with others and strengthens relationships within the boardroom. When board members stay true to themselves, they attract the right people and opportunities and can distinguish how their skills and interests can best support the organisation's success.

This episode is for you if you're a Non Executive Director or aspiring to be one, looking to make a meaningful contribution to your organization. Lisa's insights offer valuable advice on building trust, leveraging diversity, and tapping into one's authenticity to impact the boardroom positively.

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Key learnings from Lisa’s first board experience (03:20)
• How to find a good fit for future roles (07:23)
• Networking - how can it help you? (11:01)
• How to have a solid personal branding and reputation (15:17)
• The importance of authenticity and being able to adapt (17:43)
• Values that every board should have (22:04)
• How to assess a board director’s intellectual rigour (25:19)
• Advice for senior executives looking to transition to board directorships (29:37)
• The biggest challenge of being a Non Executive Director (32:22)

When you follow your true self, you captivate opportunities where you can stand out from the crowd. This allows you to distinguish whether your skills and interests can help the organisation achieve success or not.

Quotes
"The ability to make a contribution that people value is one of the best privileges you can have." -Lisa Chung AM
"Authenticity is absolutely the starting point but you also have to find a way to how you're going to evolve and meet your goals." -Lisa Chung AM 
"We won't always resonate with everyone, but we resonate with the right people and we attract the right opportunities from that." -Sally Parrish

Some people have the perception that cybercriminals are just bored kids in their parent’s basements, hacking websites because it’s fun. While this is true for some cyber criminals, there are certainly more advanced and sophisticated ones. 
In this episode of The Board Success Podcast, we’ll discuss the sophisticated cyber world and how to manage its risks with Eric Pinkerton. Eric is the Cyber Pain Management Advisor of Trustwave, a leading cybersecurity and managed security services provider which focuses on threat detection and response. 
On the other end of the spectrum of cyber criminals, there are complex organisations with refined sophistication and prevalence. These are people who use specialised tools and resources often meant to pursue financial gain.
One of the main reasons why cybersecurity risks are pervasive is because a gap exists between the executive team and the board. Some members of the executive team want to look good in front of the board or as Erik would coin it, “gild the lily” rather than making them aware of what’s really happening in the business.  
Tune in as Eric shares his expertise on how to deal with inevitable security breaches and how to create defensible positions to ensure companies are safe from all potential cybersecurity risks. 
WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Who is Eric Pinkerton and what does he do for a living (01:25)
• The sophistication of cyber criminals (02:19)
• Why the gap between the executive team and the board exist (06:22)
• Questions that will help the board determine the risks of cybersecurity (08:30)
• The importance of conversational skills for the board (15:50)
• How does the board effectively measure cyber management (19:18)
• The dangers of cyber risk management (24:21)
• Quantifying the risks of breaches (29:35)

QUOTES
"Not everything you can measure matters and not everything that matters you can measure." -Eric Pinkerton

"Don't wait until you have a cyber incident until you start spending money on security." -Eric Pinkerton

"You could give directors a thousand questions but the value is going to be around knowing which questions to ask and when to play it." -Sally

When you're a leader, it's easy to get wrapped up in the big picture. You're focused on moving your company forward and doing what's best for your team. But while you're busy looking ahead, sometimes problems can develop in the boardroom without you even realizing it. 

In this episode, we'll outline some of the most common boardroom issues and how to spot them before they cause too much damage with Carolyn Grant. Carolyn Grant is an organizational designer with a marketing and organizational neuroscience background.

According to Carolyn, it's very common for leaders to overlook problems in the boardroom because they're so focused on other things. In between meetings, they're thinking about the next big project or what needs to be done to meet their goals. And when they are in meetings, they're often thinking about how to present ideas in the best light possible.

Indeed,  a leader's main job is to focus on the future and make sure their company is moving in the right direction. But that doesn't mean they can afford to ignore what's happening in the present. In fact,  many of the most serious issues faced by companies today come from problems that were left unaddressed in the boardroom.

Listen to this episode now to hear Carolyn Grant discuss some of the most common boardroom issues and how to spot them before they cause too much damage.


WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Modern-day problems that business leaders are facing (03:35)
• Psychological safety in the boardroom (10:30)
• Creating a healthy workplace environment (16:40)
• One thing board members fail to do (18:40)
• The challenges industry leaders are facing right now (20:28)
• Solutions to the most common corporate problems (25:58)
• Understanding emotional intelligence (31:02)
• The importance of adding the human element (33:19)
• Carolyn’s annual psychological safety in the boardroom survey (37:15)

QUOTES
“Psychological safety isn't just being nice. It's having that accountability as well because, without it, you don't know where your boundaries are.” -Carolyn Grant

“We need to coach people and mentor them, not tell them what to do and how to do it.” -Carolyn Grant 

“A lot of the times, we don't want to know how bad things are, because there's no sort of remedy anyway.” -Sally