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John Surma has been a corporate director for almost 20 years, but his best advice for becoming a good director came in the early days when he was then head of the Manufacturers Hanover Trust and Mr Surma was chairman. Board of Directors of U.S. Steel Corporation, where he also served as CEO.
“I was watching John,” Sarma says. “And he said, as a coach, you should only ask questions you want to know the answers to, and only ask those who know the answers.” Please do not cause trouble to others. ”
Mr. Surma has continued these human relations principles into his board service. “Boardroom behavior and demeanor” are important to effective organizations, he says. “It's a team sport. A best-in-class board is not about the individual, it's the package of the whole board.”
Nevertheless, Mr. Surma said his contributions rely largely on his experience as a corporate executive, member of six corporate and many nonprofit boards, and a total of nearly 70 years of corporate board service. He says he is doing it.
“We’ve seen corporate controversies, activism, factory closures, new technologies, and we’re back to dial-up internet access and now we’re working on quantum computing,” he says. “I've been through all of that. And that experience is one of the most important things.”
And for him, the cornerstone is helping boards do just three things: This means selecting a company leader, agreeing to the strategy devised by that leader, and investing shareholder capital in that strategy according to the leader's instructions. “These are the things that really make a difference in terms of value creation for shareholders,” Surma said.
A key part of effective board service, he says, is information preparation. He said some companies still give director lists to directors before physical meetings, and directors can be overwhelmed by having the data available online. However, “I like watching news clip feeds and lots of videos. [other] Let's put some details into the database and see what comes out. ”
Surma often says, “I'm looking for something that could take me in a different direction.'' It has an internal discrepancy meter. If something seems out of sync, you might want to dig a little deeper and ask your administrator questions. ”
His hacks for effective board meetings include addressing the most important and potentially time-consuming agenda items first. “The board needs enough time to carry out its business, for example to discuss succession,” Surma says. “It would be normal to talk about it at the end of the agenda. But I always want CEOs to be in tip-top shape, fresh and ready. And push it at the end. If you try, will you understand the whole story?”
Mr. Surma understands that more and more people are expressing interest in serving on corporate boards, but he urges new director candidates to first gain relevant experience elsewhere. He recommends taking a difficult but usually rewarding path.
“If you want to serve on ExxonMobil's board of directors but have never served on a United Way committee, you need to do some preliminary work,” he says. Being on the board of a well-run, well-known non-profit organization is a good thing, and it's very similar to being on the board of a large corporation. There are also small bank boards and hospital boards.
“It's one thing to want to improve. It's another thing to be ready for it. You have to prepare yourself and gain experience.”
