Special Report: Corporate Boards

Taking Charge: Directors Confront New Challenges

Manage the CEO, do homework, bond with fellow board members, avoid liability and be prepared to call "Foul!"

In February of 1996, three months before Mike Critelli became CEO of Pitney Bowes, he paid a visit to Marty Lipton of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, the high-powered New York law firm that advises numerous companies and their boards. “I was Corporate Secretary, and he was our outside counsel,” explains Critelli. “I said, ‘Marty, what is the single most important piece of advice you can give me to ensure that I have a long career as CEO?’ I thought he was going to say something about strategy, or acquisitions, or, perhaps, succession planning. But I was wrong.” Read why...

Help Wanted: Corporate Directors

Will train, pay tuition.

Corporate board vacancies are harder to fill these days, and newly minted directors are working hard to get up to speed on their increasingly high-pressure roles. The days when a top corporate officer would “hire somebody to run the company and join three or four boards are long past,” says Theodore Dysart of Heidrick & Struggles. “Boards are saying, ‘we pay you a healthy salary, we don’t need you going off and focusing on other companies.’” Find out more...

Leading Diversity in the Boardroom

Introducing new perspectives to your board of directors.

Cheryl Shavers understands how change can transform a business in a nanosecond and how for-profit corporate boards need to anticipate change. Having spent 25 years in the high-tech industry in engineering and managerial positions at Motorola, Hewlett-Packard and Intel Corp., she lived in a world that changed every day. “The people at those companies are used to taking risks,” says Shavers. “From designing complex systems to integrating off-the-shelf parts, they know how to put things together.” Read more...