Jorge Titinger: Leadership, Governance, and the Erosion of Trust

Mar 3, 2025

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(0:00) Intro

(1:15) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel

(2:02) Start of interview

(2:48) Jorge's origin story

(6:03) His executive career in Silicon Valley (including computer and semiconductor industries)

(9:00) On his board experience (he has served in ~20 boards)

(11:32) Distinctions between serving on different types of boards (public/private/non-profits/etc). On non-profits: "the board is really there for what they call the 3 W's: wisdom, work, or wealth."

(12:55) On startup governance.

(19:24) On the backlash on ESG/DEI and his book Differences that Make a Difference (2019). "I think the companies that embarked on DEI programs for the sake of checking a box or purely for the sake of compliance are the ones that need to change or got in trouble."

(28:49) Differences between CEO coaching and board membership. "Most engineers need to get way better at EQ. When you get into leadership, it's a lot more about influence than being right."

(31:26) On founder-led companies and governance.

(37:00) On the impact of AI on business and boards. *Reference to E162 with Nora Denzel on NACD's BRC on tech in the boardroom.

(44:30) On trend of AI companies incorporating as PBCs.

(46:55) Books that have greatly influenced his life:

Good to great by Jim Collins (2001)
Crossing the Chasm, by Geoffrey Moore (1991)
The Hard Thing About Hard Things, by Ben Horowitz (2014)
Philosophy: Buddhism

(48:42) His mentors: parents, Russell Redenbaugh, and his karate instructor.

(51:44) Quotes that he thinks of often or lives his life by.

(52:37) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that he loves. Sports examples and analogies with business world.

(54:38) On the impact of work from home. "Trust has gone from imperative to imperiled"

(58:00) The living person he most admires: Reed Hastings. *Reference to Netflix board case study

Jorge Titinger is the founder and CEO of Titinger Consulting, a boutique consulting firm focused on strategy development, the cultural aspects of M&A, corporate transformations and leadership coaching.

You can follow Evan on social media at:

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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