The Harvard Law School Corporate Governance blog has posted an update on the progress of the newly formed Lead Directors Network. The association, which met for the first time last month, was organized by the law firm, King & Spalding, and Tapestry Networks. Lead directors from companies including Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, Constellation Energy, Delta Air Lines, Home Depot, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley participated.
The group issued a report called “Viewpoints” that summarized the following findings:
- The origins of the lead director role.
- Value of the lead director role.
- How the title–lead director, presiding director, or non-executive chairman–affects the role.
- Current issues for lead directors.
- The future of the lead director position.
Members of the LDN also dentified five topics that they feel are important for lead directors that will be discussed in more depth in future meetings:
1. how the board should be engaged in the development of corporate strategy,
2. the lead director’s role in crisis turbulent times, including preparing for a crisis situation, 3. the lead director’s role in succession planning for the CEO, the board, committee chairs and the top tier of management,
4. improving director and CEO evaluation processes and how individual director performance should be evaluated, and
5. alternative governance models (for example, the European model and models used by private equity firms).