How Bad Corporate Directors Can Affect Your Company’s Bottom Line
Bad corporate directorship can be incredibly detrimental to a company or organization. From inattention to detail to feelings of entitlement, bad board members can seriously impede board operations, waste precious resources, and stifle best-practice corporate governance.
Companies shouldn’t tolerate bad directors. In "A Field Guide to Bad Directors," four-time corporate chair and CEO of Special Investigations Michael Pocalyko
- lays out the defining characteristics of a bad director,
- identifies 14 of the most prevalent bad director archetypes, and
- offers suggestions for mitigating the effects of a bad director such as encouraging active communication and shared decision making.
Often, bad board members exhibit similar characteristics. Pocalyko consolidates their qualities into four categories: inattention to detail, narrow field of focus, entitlement, and inadequacy. He then analyzes how these characteristics are revealed in the boardroom through cartoonish characters whose motivations and actions are shaped by social, financial, personal, and political factors.
Additionally, Pocalyko interviews three seasoned directors about their personal experiences with deficient board members and what management styles and personal qualities are beneficial in maintaining a high-performance board.
The full article, published in NACD Directorship magazine, also covers avoiding the pitfalls of bad directorship by embracing advantageous solutions that foster "effective oversight, the creation of value, and risk management" in your board members.
Complete the form to download your complimentary copy of the article.