Join BDO's Center for Corporate Governance Amy Rojik as she discusses why and how boards are turning their focus to the “S” in ESG with Nora Denzel, a seasoned Silicon Valley technology executive and dynamic public company board of director at AMD, Ericsson, NortonLifeLock and SUSE Linux.

Key Takeaways

“S” is not just about shareholders – it is about the health and well-being of all of your stakeholders: employees, suppliers, customers, and communities your serve

“S” is in an “early” market phase – First step is to turn inward and perform “bottoms up” (e.g. pulse surveys, open door policies, view your health/benefits offerings) and “top down” (e.g., select the material issues to your company, particularly your talent pool)

Select your framework in identifying relevant ESG issues to your company and perform a materiality analysis of the impact of these issues aligned your company strategy

Ensure you are developing your ESG information via a stakeholder lens that has the same rigor, processes, inspection and metrics that other important corporate initiatives do

Communications – How and Who and When

Internally – Determine how might dashboards need to change; how might committee charters need to change; understand tone at top, mood in middle and buzz at bottom

Externally – Ensure your CSR plans have built-in continuum of accountability

Boards have an opportunity to take a deeper dive into company data and identify trends and areas for improvement

Focusing on the “S” can be a path not only to strengthen overall value creation but to also protect against reputational damage

Start small and be cohesive: Tell a “single” story – integrate your reporting based on strategy and the identified critical success factors and how these are managed

Turning the Board’s Focus to the “S” in ESG