Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

David Beatty: "Boards Should Invest More Time on Foresight"

Episode Summary

In this episode, I talk with David Beatty, one of the most experienced Canadian directors and educators about his career and thoughts on governance, including his service on 40 different boards of directors, 9 of them as Chair of public companies. We discuss several governance hot topics, including long-term strategies for boards, dual-class shares, ESG, the job of a director generally, the current state of boards, and more in this fascinating conversation.

Episode Notes

  1. His experience in Papua New Guinea [3:57]
  2. Sailing in the South Pacific [7:17]
  3. His first board: the OK Tedi Development Corporation [12:20]
  4. His management roles: Gardiner Capital Group and Weston Foods [17:53]
  5. The founding of the Canadian Coalition for Good Governance [19:29]
  6. Peter Drucker's "Follow the Wagon Train Strategy" [21:35]
  7. Board Games (Globe and Mail's ranking of Canada's corporate boards) [23:12]
  8. Joining the Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto) [25:34]
  9. The story of the ICD-Rotman Director Education Program [26:47]
  10. Cultural advantage of Canada for director education [32:18]
  11. Separating Chair/CEOs in Canada [33:41]
  12. Short/Long term strategies for boards. His article in the Globe and Mail [35:37]
  13. His take on dual-class share structures [40:07]
  14. His take on ESG [47:00]
  15. The job of a director: hindsight, oversight and foresight [49:30]
  16. Directors as "gifted amateurs" [54:00]
  17. His recommendation on director education [57:21]
  18. On rowing [58:29]
  19. His current state of mind: "most boards will never work" [01:00]
  20. How to find David Beatty online: [01:02]
    1. LinkedIn
    2. Personal website: chairmanofboard.com
    3. The David and Sharon Johnston Centre for Corporate Governance Innovation

David R. Beatty is a Professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and is the Faculty Director of the David and Sharon Johnston Centre for Corporate Governance Innovation. He is also the Founder of the ICD-Rotman Directors Education Program. The 12-day course is delivered across Canada in partnership with 10 other Universities and has trained over 6,000 senior Canadians. For his work in Corporate Governance he was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2014. In 2018, the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), representing 80 asset managers and pension funds from 15 nations with a total of $35 trillion of assets under management, awarded him a Lifetime Achievement Award.