66. Post-Pandemic Boards

SCRIPT: My process for scripting this podcast usually starts with a huge list of potential episode titles, from which I select, script, and record as I go. The title for this episode has been sitting there for months – it’s been hard to choose what to say exactly. But getting in front of a board in person – like, physically face to face – for the first time since pre-covid made something really clear to me. If you’d asked me in early summer of 2020 I’d have said that nobody had anything figured out – we needed a total board revolution to avoid major problems. By last fall, many boards I knew had really figured out the virtual meeting thing – presentations, conversations, Q&A, information flow…Most of it was working really well, better than ever in some ways. By 2021 everyone – including me – was so good at the virtual stuff that even though we really missed each other and felt a need for social interaction, we were all pretty confident we were nailing it. Someone even convinced me that virtual platforms had the potential to be more inclusive, particularly in the sense that everyone takes up the same amount of real estate in their Brady Bunch square whether they’re 5 feet tall or 7 feet tall. But then I got back in a live boardroom. OK above all, take care of your people – don’t take unnecessary risks. We’re in the middle of a horrifying global pandemic. But when it’s safe: get back in the room with each other. The magic that happens in real life can’t be captured on a screen