Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein

Lisa Shalett: "We Are in a High Velocity Environment of Tremendous Change."

Aug 14, 2023

01:00:39

Creator website

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.

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/

You can follow Evan on social media at:

Twitter: @evanepstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/

Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:

Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod

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

You can follow Evan on social media at: