Emergency Planning for the Disabled Is an Uphill Battle

Emergency Planning for the Disabled Is an Uphill Battle

How the Best Boards and Best Directors Operate

Clara Shih

 

October 04, 2012

inShare

• • Like (68)
   
  • Comment (15)
   
  • Share

Sitting on the board of a Fortune 500 company, or any large organization, is a great responsibility. Personally, I've learned a tremendous amount in the nearly one year since I was appointed to the Starbucks board of directors.

Having learned so much, I was delighted to be able discuss best practices for boards and directors at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, CA earlier this week.

With insights from Carol Bartz (former CEO of Yahoo! and before that CEO of Autodesk, now director on several boards including Cisco) and Anne Mulcahy (former CEO of Xerox, now Chairman of the Board of Save the Children and board director at Johnson & Johnson, Target, Washington Post, etc.), and moderated by the talented Carol Loomis, we had a great discussion about how the best public boards and companies operate.

In a nutshell:

1. Directors have the courage and culture to constructively disagree with one another and with management without anyone taking it personally.
2. There is ample diversity of backgrounds and opinions on board to carefully consider all options and angles in the case of important decisions. The board is large and diverse enough to encompass the full breadth of the corporation’s businesses, market segments, and geographies, but not so large that it becomes unwieldy or clumsy.
3. Greater care and consideration should be given during both the director selection and onboarding process. Board members need to remain committed to continual learning, preparation, and relationship-building with other board members and management.

All in all, the Fortune Summit was fantastically run, thanks in large part to conference organizers Pattie Sellers and Stephanie Mehta. To read more about my experience at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, head over to the Hearsay Social Blog.

BEMA Membership Special 10-1-12 to 12-31-12

Visit www.blackemergmanagersassociation.org for 2012-2013 membership.

2012 Science of Eliminating Health Disparities Summit.

Register today for the 2012 Science of Eliminating Health Disparities Summit.  Remember, registration is a two-step process.  You must first complete the  general registration to obtain a password to select your breakout sessions. If you have not yet made your selections, you can choose from more than 100 sessions  in three different tracks under 16 different themes including:  http://citfm.cit.nih.gov/registration/register.php ·         Social, Biological, Environmental and Economic Disparities in Childhood  Developmental Health Outcomes ·         Testing and Linkage to Treatment/Care for Vulnerable Asian American,  Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Communities ·         Elder Abuse in Diverse Communities: Scope, Culture, and Policy Implications ·         Public Policies, System-level and Environmental Strategies to Address Obesity   Prevention and Health ·         Research and Community Efforts to Address Inner-City Asthma ·         Patient-Centered Outcomes and Effectiveness Research in Health Disparities ·         Place Matters for Health:  Using Locally-Tailored Community Health Equity  Reports to Compel Action to Eliminate Health Inequities ·         Racial and Ethnic Differences and Disparities in Pain:  The State of the  Science of Inclusion  ·         The Hidden Toll of Occupational Health Disparities ·         10 Years Later: Lessons Learned in a Community-based Rheumatology  Clinic with an Underserved Patient Population ·         Developing and Implementing the 2012 HHS Environmental Justice Strategy:  The Importance of Stakeholder Engagement If you have questions, please contact 2012summit@mail.nih.gov or call 240-395-0549.

Health Disparities Partnership Forum. October 22-23, 2012

Minority Health Action Alert Provided by the Office of Minority Health Resource Center October 04, 2012 American Diabetes Association's Fifth Disparities Partnership Forum,  October 22-23, Washington, D.C. Registration is now open   for the American Diabetes Association's Fifth Disparities Partnership  Forum on diabetes care in high risk populations. The goal of the forum is to encourage collaboration  with partners to address the disparity of cultural competency, health literacy and health equity in  diabetes care, specifically in populations at highest risk for type 2 diabetes, such as African  Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, American Indian/Alaskan Natives,  Asian American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, older adults, women, low-income and  uninsured persons. Scheduled speakers include:   Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health (Acting) and the Acting Director of the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Dr. Augustus A. White III, Author and Professor of Medical Education and Orthopedic Surgery at  Harvard Medical School Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, chair of the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institute Dr. Pedro Jose Greer, Professor of Medicine and Chairman of the Department of Humanities  Health and Society at Florida International University  For more information on the forum, please contact Monique Lindsy at mlindsy@diabetes.org.