Don
Thompson, President, McDonald’s USA spoke April 9 to Chicago
United and students at Chicago State University as part
of the 2009 Chicago United Business Leaders Forum. An audience
of business executives and students listened as Chicago
United President Gloria Castillo interviewed Thompson about
his personal experiences and successful strategies to increase
diversity in corporate leadership. Thompson shared insights
and perspectives on talent development, the education imperative
and competing as a leader in the global marketplace.
Dr.
Frank G. Pogue, Interim President, Chicago State University
(right) welcomed Thompson to the South Side campus.
The
Corporate Director:
The Role of Integrity and Independence in Corporate Leadership
Hosted by: Columbia College Chicago
The
first event in the 2009 series held on March 25 featured
a panel of business leaders who discussed corporate board
tendencies to select retired CEOs over people of color when
directorships become available. Similarly, the panel commented
on a survey of majority corporate directors published December
15, 2008, by USC’s Marshall School that said 55 percent
of the directors at U.S. publicly-traded companies said
they would not like to see their boards become more diverse
by increasing their minority representation, even though
82 percent recognize that having a diverse board can be
beneficial to the company. The solution, the panelists agreed,
lies with the boards as well as executives of color. Here’s
a little of what they said…
Todd Brown
Vice Chairman, ShoreBank
Corporation and Director,
JohnsonDiversey, Inc.
“This
was the old boys’ network that supported board searches
and it was a closed loop. When people ask me how you get
on a board, I say networking is a key piece to getting yourself
exposed to break that closed loop. For me, it was a matter
of ‘how can I penetrate that network and get exposure to
people inside that network?’ and not a matter of waiting
for the old boys’ network to open up for me. The good news
is that there’s at least 82% recognition that it’s important.
Succession
planning is one of the areas where you can play a role (on
a board), looking at the processes of identifying key candidates
and ensuring that diversity is built in. Be willing to point
it out but also be willing to spend the time to actually
go make things happen. By participating on non profit boards
to get exposure to business leaders, they begin to see how
you think and how you operate in a team setting. That’s
a great way to get exposure.”
C. Peter Bynoe
Managing Director, Loop
Capital Senior Counsel, DLA
Piper LLP and Director, Frontier
Communications Corporation
and Covanta Holding
Corporation
“People
need to look past their short term crisis mentality to embrace
diversity and accept the fact that inclusive decision making
can help solve the problem. When you’re in difficult financial
times, you especially need the best team to deal with the
most complex problems. You have to be innovative and give
access to a diverse set of problem solvers who heretofore
have not been included if you really want change.
Once
you’re on the board, you cannot be afraid to confront this
issue. After shareholder value, my main responsibility is
to make sure minorities get a fair opportunity for employment,
whether it’s on the board or within management. It’s very
important to not be afraid to lose your job as a director.
If you’re afraid, you won’t beat the drum. At the end of
the day, the best thing to do to prepare yourself for a
board opportunity is to be outstanding at whatever you decide
to do. You won’t always get found, but it increases the
chances of your discovery.”
Luis P. Nieto, Jr.
President, Consumer Foods,
ConAgra Foods, Inc. and
Director, Ryder System, Inc.
and AutoZone Inc.
“Retired
CEOs are very attractive to boards because of the experience
those individuals bring. I wouldn’t expect that trend to
change. Even before the search firm is called, each board
member has a short list of people they know who they want
to recommend. Very few people of color are handed to search
firms on those short lists. Part of me would like to think
it’s not exclusionary, it’s just they (directors) are trying
to be inclusive of people they know. If you’re a member
of a board of directors, you should challenge yourself to
look beyond the top three search firms that do most of the
board searches to broaden the candidate pool.
As
a director, you’re there to ensure that management is doing
a good job of setting strategy and you want to do a good
job of assessing the risk associated with that strategy.
The temptation is to try to dive into a project, but you’re
not management. That’s one of the hardest things for people
who’ve run businesses to resist when they serve on a board.”
The
views and opinions expressed by the speakers who participate
in Chicago United events do not necessarily express the
views and opinions of Chicago United members.
