Welcome to the Boardroom Governance Podcast. I’m your host, Evan Epstein. In this episode, I talk with Lisa Shalett, co-founder of Extraordinary Women on Boards, corporate director and former Goldman Sachs Partner. Lisa currently serves on the boards of PennyMac Financial (NYSE: PFSI) and AccuWeather (private, family-owned). She has also served on the boards of Brookfield Property Partners (NASDAQ: BPY), Bully Pulpit Interactive (private, PE-backed) and PerformLine (private, venture-backed). In this podcast, we talk about her board journey, including why she founded EWOB. We also discuss current market conditions, ESG, compliance, geopolitics, and boardroom dynamics including diversity, team collaboration and board evaluations. If you like this show, please consider subscribing, leaving a review or sharing this podcast on social media. You can also contribute as a Patron on the link patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod and you can subscribe to the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at evanepstein.substack.com
0:00 -- Intro.
1:21 -- Start of interview.
2:10 -- Lisa's "origin story"
2:59 -- Her connection to Japan.
6:29 -- Her experience in investing banking, mostly with Goldman Sachs (20-year career).
15:55 -- On her board journey, and the distinctions between serving on private (VC or PE backed) and public boards.
19:57 -- On Extraordinary Women on Boards, the organization she co-founded in 2017 to amplify the impact of women inside boardrooms and beyond. "To be clear, I did not set out to start an organization, this has been totally organic." "There was just a desire for a community of peers who already had a seat at the table in the boardroom."
25:04 -- On current market conditions and impact of pandemic in boardrooms. "I think we are in a high velocity environment of tremendous change, there is a lot of uncertainty." "The remit for directors exploded during the pandemic." "What has changed most for directors is the pace of change, how do you keep up with that?"
31:55 -- On the role of the board on growth and down cycles. "One of the hardest things to do when things are going well is making sure to ask a lot of (tough) questions." "There is an opportunity to institutionalize in the boardroom the role of somebody to ask the tough questions, to play the devil's advocate."
36:40 -- Her take on ESG, the anti-ESG backlash and the politicization of corporate governance.
42:27 -- On boardroom dynamics and progress on boardroom diversity.
46:43 -- On geopolitics in the boardroom, particularly on "decoupling" or "de-risking" supply chains with China.
48:52 -- Topic in her mind: thinking about the board as a team.
50:58 -- Her take on board evaluations: The good, the bad and the ugly. "You only know as much as you've experienced."
53:38 -- A book that has greatly influenced her life: The Choice, by Dr. Edith Eger (2017).
54:43-- Her mentors, and what she learned from them: "I have a lot of mentors who are my peers."
56:01 -- Quotes she thinks of often or lives her life by: "To live your life by design not default" (from The Decade Game by Carolyn Buck Luce) and "Define yourself by your aspirations, not your limitations" (Cathie Black).
57:45 -- An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves.
58:54 -- The living person she most admires: her sons.
Lisa Shalett is a former Goldman Sachs Partner who serves as a corporate advisor and independent board director. She’s also the co-founder of Extraordinary Women on Boards (EWOB), an organization whose mission is to amplify the impact of women inside boardrooms and beyond.
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You can follow Lisa on social media at:
Twitter: @lisashalett
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisashalett/
Extraordinary Women on Boards: https://www.ewobnetwork.com/
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You can follow Evan on social media at:
Twitter: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
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You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:
Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod
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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License