Digitizing Directors

Shown here are my fellow panelists from a session today at the 2009 Corporate Governance Conference of the National Association of Corporate Directors in Washington, DC. Our session was entitled, "Transparency & Technology: Directorship in a Digital Age."

Shown left to right are Moderator Jessica Lipnack, CEO of NetAge; Thomas Gensemer, Managing Partner of Blue State Digital, LLC; and G. Scott Greenberg, Director of Sahale Snacks, Inc., InSpa Corporation, and Calidora Skin Clinics, Inc., and Senior Partner at K&L Gates, LLP.

Jessica started us off with an electronic survey of the audience:

Does your Board uses websites for purposes of meeting management and board communication:
No: 54% Yes: 46%

Do you personally keep a blog?
No: 97% Yes: 3%

Do you read blogs as part of your Board work?
No: 68% Yes: 32%

Do you participate in Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites?
No: 35% Yes: 65%

How would you place yourself in the "digital continuum" relative to your colleagues?
Novice: 17% Competent: 64% Out-in-front: 19%

Much of Scott's presentation dealt with the pervasive presence of digital media and with the tools available to boards for meeting preparation and management and board communication.

Thomas talked about the essential elements of a social media strategy: Timeliness; transparency; authenticity; and personalization of messages. As one of the brains behind the Obama internet campaign, he had a particularly vivid experience upon which to draw.

My topic was the value of transparency in building trust with customers and other constituencies. I drew on our experience at BIDMC and also the approach used by Salesforce.com.

Jessica ensured that our presentations would be short and focused, leading to an extensive and engaging question and answer period.