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• Article | Harvard Business Review Digital Articles | October 6, 2020

  COVID-19 Is Rewriting the Rules of Corporate Governance

  Lynn S. Paine

  Boards are facing a complex new reality as a result of COVID-19. The new environment is characterized by pressures and demands from various stakeholder groups, heightened expectations for societal engagement and corporate citizenship, and radical uncertainty about the future. These factors are complicating board decision-making and challenging the shareholder-centric model of governance that has guided boards and business leaders for the past several decades. A board’s ability to deliberate in a thorough and thoughtful, but efficient, manner and come to a considered conclusion around key issues will be a critical aspect of its effectiveness in the post-COVID era.

  Keywords: Health Pandemics; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards;

  Citation:

  Paine, Lynn S. "COVID-19 Is Rewriting the Rules of Corporate Governance." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (October 6, 2020).  View Details

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• Article | Harvard Business Review Digital Articles | October 6, 2020

  Test Your Board's Readiness for the Post-COVID Era

  Lynn S. Paine

  Research suggests that well-run boards take the process of self-evaluation quite seriously, often using a combination of director surveys and personal interviews to assess the functioning and effectiveness of the board, its committees, and its individual members. As boards prepare for their next round of self-evaluation, they will want to assess their capabilities and readiness to govern in the wake of COVID-19. This list offers a guide to the kinds of key questions and statements they should consider adding to their surveys or interview protocols.

  Keywords: Health Pandemics; Governing and Advisory Boards; Performance Evaluation;

  Citation:

  Paine, Lynn S. "Test Your Board's Readiness for the Post-COVID Era." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (October 6, 2020).  View Details

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• Chapter | Climate Change: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review | 2020

  Climate Change Is Going to Transform Where and How We Build

  John D. Macomber

  As fires, floods, and droughts increasingly threaten homes, businesses, and other institutions, climate risk has become financial risk. This implies that homeowners and investors have been making location decisions without properly pricing the cost of potential peril, and that the government has been enabling the oversight.
  It’s not just homeowners investing recklessly—many businesses have been equally short-sighted in where they place new assets, such as factories, and what to do with existing assets in once-safe areas now threatened by these perils. While laudatory efforts continue to mitigate climate change at the international level, it’s long past time to accept that the climate is already irreversibly changing, and we must adjust our mindset accordingly. We can’t just keep piling sandbags, pumping basements, dousing flames, and expecting government bailouts forever; a methodology is needed for homeowners, businesses, mortgage holders, governments—all of society—to figure out which assets to reinforce and what other courses of action are available.
  Alas, we seem to be headed in the wrong direction. While virtually no private insurance companies retain residential flood risk in Florida, Virginia, and other coastal states due to sea rise, government-subsidized programs such as NFIP continue to keep residences insured. Making things even worse is a general lack of restrictions on where one can build and what can be built. A society that prides itself on free will and self-determination is loath to say what a property owner can and cannot build on their own land as long as it meets rudimentary building and zoning codes: So more and more people move into harm’s way in flood plains, low-lying coastal areas, and tinder dry western landscapes.
  There are five basic choices in investing in resilience: reinforce, rebuild, rebound, restrict, and retreat. Together, they can be used as a decision-support tool for what to do with assets exposed to climate risk.

  Keywords: Climate Change; Housing; Mortgages; Geographic Location; Real Estate Industry;

  Citation:

  Macomber, John D. "Climate Change Is Going to Transform Where and How We Build." In Climate Change: The Insights You Need from Harvard Business Review. Vol. 12. HBR Insights Series. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2020.  View Details

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