Boards Archives - The Grassy Road

Why I put together a retreat for public company board chairs on how to find a new CEO

I was intimately involved in three CEO searches in 2024. I wish I had known at the beginning of the year what I know now. I serve on the boards of three public companies and one private company. I chair the board of two; three of my companies, for different reasons, required a CEO search last year. The theory of CEO succession is fairly simple: it’s planned, it’s smooth, it’s an ongoing discussion, it takes about 6-9 months–but that is textbook, not reality. In theory you are having discussions with [...]

By Penny Herscher|2025-11-02T08:51:11-08:00September 4, 2025|Boards, Leadership|Comments Off

The critical difference between Governance and Management when you are on a board

This question comes up a lot when teaching wannabe directors. And it comes up with employees who are under the mistaken belief that their board actually manages the company. So let me demystify it now. We don't manage. At all. The critical difference is that the board is in place to provide oversight, not to make decisions. Oversight to ensure shareholders are well served. Oversight to ensure the law is followed. That, over time, the decisions the leadership team makes are good ones. Oversight to ensure the company is not [...]

By Penny Herscher|2021-01-28T10:05:38-08:00January 27, 2021|Boards|Comments Off

How boards must change

“The full weight of responsibility for change rests with those who control the institutions” – White Fragility:Why it’s so hard for white people to talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo Our institutions in the US are led predominantly by men. Women would simply not have the rights we cherish today, such as the right to vote, if the majority of men in power had not supported them. Companies have been paying attention to gender diversity among employees for some years now. It’s been talked about at length but it was not until California [...]

By Penny Herscher|2020-06-16T17:45:50-07:00June 16, 2020|Boards|Comments Off

Women Board Directors and Chairs – Why do the numbers remain so low and how we can change them!

I was recently honored to be named board chair at Lumentum, a terrific public company in the technology space. As I thought about my new responsibility, I became curious as to how many other companies have women board chairs and unfortunately what I found was not good. First, for context, consider the number of women on boards in the US. While the number of women directors has increased marginally in the last few years, women still make up less than 23% of the S&P 500 directors**. The situation is no [...]

By Penny Herscher|2019-10-22T16:12:47-07:00October 8, 2019|Boards|Comments Off

Video: Diversity on boards – how and why it’s important!

Not sure I like the still frame but... I like the content of the video

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-06T09:43:10-08:00March 9, 2017|Boards, Equality|0 Comments

It’s time for Tone at the Top on Diversity – or Why Uber is Yet Another Wakeup Call for Boards and CEOs in Tech

Uber is just the latest company caught in the act of discriminating against women in it's workforce. Sadly for many minorities in tech this is an old story. As Ellen Pao writes in today's Time article it is an indication of "tech's existential rot". In a world that "started off seemingly harmlessly by white men funding white men with few exceptions. When only white men were given opportunities, only white men were successful. White men went on hiring only white men, because it seemed to be a common trait of [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-09T19:56:37-08:00February 24, 2017|Boards|0 Comments

So you want to join a board: Advice to help you prepare

If you want to join a board, you are not alone. Some people want to find a board in the middle of their career because they like the idea of learning about board life, or for the status of it; some people are looking for board work towards the end of their career because they want to stay engaged and give back. Either way it's a common, serious interest for many people. But what does it take - how do you prepare yourself to be qualified? First off, determine why [...]

By Penny Herscher|2018-04-24T08:06:10-07:00December 20, 2016|Boards, Career Advice|0 Comments

Why you need a CEO on your board when you are the CEO

One of the first decisions an entrepreneur needs to make once she has raised money for her great new idea is to build a board. This is a conscious act. Yes, your investors probably have board seats, at least the lead investor will. If your investors are angels maybe 2 or 3 of them have demanded to be on your board. But beyond this crew you owe it to yourself to step back and think about who do you want on your board to help you build your company. It [...]

By Penny Herscher|2020-01-09T11:24:55-08:00July 20, 2016|Boards, Leadership|0 Comments

Why shareholder activists are now the long term holders

Activists have been on the rise over the last few years and it depends who you ask whether they are agents of the devil or the good guys just driving boards to create higher returns. Some activists are now very high profile as the whole area of shareholder activism grows. You've got the attention getters like Dan Loeb of Third Point. His signature is pithy, hyper critical public letters to boards eviscerating management and often demanding a change, as he did at Yahoo. You've got the old salts like Carl [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-10T13:19:40-08:00January 25, 2016|Boards|1 Comment

Why the Debate About Twitter’s Board and Women at the Top in Silicon Valley Is a Healthy One

Posted in the Huffington Post today Is the fact that Twitter has filed for its IPO with no women on the board, and only one (new) woman in management a question of supply or demand? Is it the "arrogance of the Silicon Valley mafia," as Vivek Wadhwa believes, or "difficult" due to a lack of qualified candidates as Twitter insiders have implied, or just competing priorities while managing a rapidly growing company? This is a critical debate, one that has been growing since Lean In was released and a debate [...]

By Penny Herscher|2017-12-10T12:16:00-08:00October 7, 2013|Boards, Equality|0 Comments