LUE-42 Enterprises January 2023 Ezine

I Believe In Fairness, Fun, And Sharing What I’ve Learned

With The People Who Make This Planet A Great Place To Live

Issue 143, January 2023

Welcome to 2023!

I wrapped up 2022 in much the same way many of you did. Hustling about, first trying to put off, and then finally embracing, Christmas.

December was a time of work and deadlines, of friends and cookies, of more clearing and endings, of joy and grief.

Scheduling meetings in December for the new year brings me all kinds of anxiety. I struggle with finding the right calendar and time-tracking system. Yes, I enter my meetings electronically, but I also use a paper calendar, and I track my time on a second paper calendar. I have researched many options but have not found the sweet spot. So once more I enter a new year with a complex, messy way of keeping myself organized. I take some solace in the article (see Some Links I Like) that tells us we actually accomplish more when we have paper calendars. So I guess I have that much going for me!

I received a book for Christmas "Lagom: The Swedish Art of Balanced Living" (Linnea Dunne). Lagom means "not too little, not too much, just right." Using this in approach in your physical and mental space goes a long way to a better life, but the principle also extends to not being wasteful and to making choices that support a better society. There was much for me to like about this book, starting with how much Christmas dinner I ate: not too little, not too much, just right! (And that was a first for me).

I dared to travel at Christmas and while flights were delayed both ways and we were largely storm-stayed in rural Ontario, I got by better than most and for that I am truly grateful.

I hope the new year brings you creativity, energy, joy, and peace.

/lmwe

Governance in 2023

Harvard Law School Forum has published its list of key issues in corporate governance for 2023. They say, "Despite the complexity and range of issues that boards today must grapple with, the basic principles of governance continue to provide the best guideposts: engaged oversight, informed decision making, conflict-free business judgments, and balancing of competing interests to promote the overall best interests of the business and sustainable long-term growth in value." While the article uses US case law, the insights are relevant to us, too.

Some trends and developments in the report:

Risk Management: Boards need to do what they always did here, with special focus on the risk profile; being mindful of possible risks relating to inflation, rising interest rates, availability/cost of financing, increased operating costs, and fluctuations in exchange rates.

Cybersecurity: The US has more regulation on this than Canada, but information security is essential, including third party security risks,. Boards need to ensure they receive proper information to assist in their oversight.

Cryptocurrency and Blockchain: Crypto-currency assets, markets, and related technologies will continue to have long term implications for stakeholders like financial institutions, investment firms, world governments, etc. "...Corporations that...seem unlikely to be affected by crypto developments may find themselves exposed to peripheral risks, whether through relationships with institutions...or supplier networks..." Boards need to understand developments in this area.

Politicization of ESG/"Woke" Corporations: There is an anti-ESG backlash that wants corporations to revert focus to increasing short-term shareholder profits. ESG has a wide range of risks and opportunities for a company to balance.

Climate Disclosure: Again, there is more regulation in the US. Not only are standards higher, but there is enhanced scrutiny of "greenwashing." Boards need to know what is being done and said about their companies.

Activism Preparedness and Defense: Activism is on the increase. Universal proxy cards (US) will see more fights about skill sets of individual directors rather than the company's or board's performance. This is a substantial change in focus.

Executive Compensation Clawback: Policies are required for publicly traded companies to claw back compensation when financials were materially misreported, whether in error or by fraud. This is happening more.

Board Diversity: The trend to get directors from under-represented groups will continue, and boards will need to report what they are doing about it.

The article goes on to list several things boards should do to stay ahead of, or at least aware, of these trends. I'll include only one, because it's a passion of mine. "Set the “tone at the top” to create a corporate culture that not only gives priority to ethical standards, professionalism, integrity, and compliance in setting and implementing both operating and strategic goals, but that also is a reflection of, and a foundation for, the corporation’s purpose." I recommend this entire article (HERE)

Some People Who Made Life Better in December

David Cheoros, Jonathon Cote, Elaine/Tessa/Drew Danelesko, Leo Ezerins/Sandy Shields, Carrie Habinski, Wanda Hackney, Joe Howdle, Dave Hughes, Lynn MacAskill, Pat Macdonald, Sherrill McGilvray, Dr. Barb Muzyka, Michelle Sicard, Theresa Tsoukalas, Lindy Tuppen, Gerry West, Gord West, Emily Wood, Ginny & Rob Wood

“There is in each of us so much goodness that if we could see it glow, it would light the world.”

-- Sam Friend

Some Links I Like

Diversity and Inclusion on Your Board (My article in Prairie Manufacturer p.46)

7 Dwarfs in the Boardroom (We know ALL of them!)

Boards & Corporate Culture (from Forbes)

Great Resignation Hits the Boardroom (from Nasdaq)

Lessons in Leadership from QE2 (from Watson Inc.)

DEI for Regulators (via Watson/CLEAR)

Theme from Twin Peaks (RIP Angelo Badalamenti)

Benefit of Paper Calendars (They make us more effective!)

NonProfit Executive Transitions (A solid POV, that not all can do)

IN MEMORIAM

Grace Jellybean Edwards

February 27 2005 - December 02 2022

Back on Brian's lap with her brother Montford

Missed by me and anyone who enjoyed a Zoom call with her.

[Caption]

Some Quotes I Like

"I wanna be the level of rich where I don't get mad at beef jerky prices anymore."

-- Unknown

"Like any composer I have the melody on top and the bass on the bottom -- but what makes it distinctively Angelo Badalamenti is the middle stuff, beautiful dissonant

things that kind of rub you wrong."

-- Angelo Badalamenti

"Everything passes,, but nothing entirely goes away."

-- Jenny Diski

“Regardless of what came before or of what is yet to come, what matters most

right now is how I choose to respond to the challenge before me. Will I lie down

or will I fight? The choice is mine, and I chose to FINISH STRONG.”

-- Dan Green

“Whatever it takes to finish things, finish. You will learn more from a

glorious failure than you ever will from something you never finished.”

-- Neil Gaiman

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you,