Neglect your company’s culture at your peril. Best-in-class companies view corporate culture as a strategic asset and use it as a competitive advantage to attract and retain top talent. It is a business imperative that cannot be overlooked in the boardroom. So how can boards take a more proactive approach to understanding, shaping and assessing corporate culture—knowing that visibility is a major hurdle? What questions should your board be asking management to measure the strength of your culture? How do you assess where the gaps are and hold management accountable? We’ll explore the evolving role of the board in culture and help your board develop a more disciplined, deliberate approach to oversight of this critical issue.
Board Member, EMPLOYERS
Board Member, Boyd Gaming Corporation; Former Board Member, Kindred at Home
Many boards face a daunting task in retaining key executives even amid a loosening talent market. A proactive approach is required to keep your top players, and the best companies continuously enhance the link between leadership development, succession and compensation discussions. How does your board ensure management effectively rewards, retains and develops high-potential candidates? How are you defining and communicating performance criteria in a way that motivates your executives? How is your board monitoring the ins and outs of the leadership succession plan and candidates? And how are you thinking about C-Suite succession more broadly with different approaches to develop your future leaders? We’ll delve into best practices you can implement to help make sure your best performers don’t leave for the competition so your bench stays strong.
Board Member, Offut Companies, Scent Beauty, Fyllo, Public Good and Metro Edge Former Chairman & CEO, Playboy Enterprises
Managing Director, Pearl Meyer
Board Member, Albemarle and Frontier Group Holdings and previously PG&E Corp
Board Member, Peoples Bank and Fenimore Asset Management; Former, CAO, Diamond Hill Capital Management
Compensation Committee Discussion: Design Considerations in a Softened Economy
Amid tremendous uncertainty in the market, what measures can your board take to remove some of the variability while remaining focused on shareholder value creation? With performance-based short- and long-term incentives often comprising more than 70% of executive compensation, how do boards make sure they are implementing goals and metrics that achieve the desired linkage between pay and performance and align incentives with each company’s unique business strategy? Particularly in a softening economy when institutional investors will be less tolerant of modest financial forecasts and expect more dependable performance to be the norm, how has your board considered potential changes to your compensation programs to ensure you are driving the desired behaviors, actions and results? How do you prioritize the performance you are paying for—stock price growth, profitability, growth efficiency, cash flow—as well as ranges and vesting terms? We’ll help you tackle these questions by exploring several tactics to improve your goal-setting process.
Pay Governance
Pay Governance
Regulators and proxy advisors all have strong opinions on executive compensation and human capital matters, and they are all seeking greater transparency on board decisions. Our experts will share insights into the SEC’s guidance on PvP, clawbacks, 10b5-1 rules and pending human capital disclosure requirements and share a preview of ISS and Glass Lewis policy updates. Then we’ll discuss important considerations for employers related to the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action, as well as recent rulings against non-compete clauses. You’ll glean critical legal insights to set your company up for success and avoid potential points of contention in the year ahead.
Partner, Sidley Austin
Partner, Sidley Austin
As the dynamics of work continue to evolve, how do we build culture now and into the future? As employees are increasingly returning to the office and hybrid work models continue to grow, the workplace plays a key role in building and maintaining culture. However, while work satisfaction scores are improving, office satisfaction remains low. Steelcase research has found companies that invest in employees’ technological, cultural, and physical work environments have more than four times the average profit and more than two times the average revenue compared to companies that don’t. We’ll look at the macro shifts and new patterns emerging about employee expectations that leaders will need to embrace to create compelling places where people can be engaged and productive and where culture thrives.
Author, The Secrets to Happiness at Work and Bring Work to Life; Vice President of Workplace Insights, Steelcase
Vice President, Global Talent Management, Steelcase
