At the SuperConference yesterday, Carrie Hightman, the general counsel of NiSource, offered her thoughts on a panel about relations with the CEO, CFO and the Board of Directors. She stressed how important it is to have a “good working relationship” with each of them and offered four particular recommendations.
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Be very solicitous about the time of Directors. Get them their Board materials on time, for example, which may seem trivial but matters a great deal to some of them. The care and feeding of directors, done smoothly and consistently, will help you get along with them well.
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Understand your role during Board meetings: mostly as a passive participant. Judiciously choose when to comment and hone your skills as a facilitator who can take the temperature of the room, sense body language, and cut short rambling presentations that no longer interest the Directors.
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Crisply give your own statements about legal issues and fight the urge to add a comment or more about everything. “You are best appreciated if your interventions are surgical – few but well chosen words.” Remember, every time you take a position you will clash with someone. Finally, “don’t feel obliged to fill pregnant pauses.”
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Be concise and pragmatic. Give the answer, not the history and development, with footnotes of the common law. Once your point is made, stop. She closed the final point with a strong urging to keep the big picture in mind at all times, not the relatively small portion that legal input consists of.