Directors Roster.

AuthorPorter, Martin
PositionBrief Article

In affiliation with Spencer Stuart -- a quarterly record of new director appointments

OUR INTRO to the Directors Roster in the Fall 2000 edition focused on when newly elected board members should begin contributing to board deliberations. Our sources overwhelmingly advised, "Speak if you have value to add. Otherwise, never feel compelled to say anything."

Yet another challenge any new director faces is getting to know their fellow board members. Both former U.S. Senator John C. Danforth and Ford Motor Co. Vice Chairman Wayne Booker -- two of the 202 directors featured in this edition of the Directors Roster -- agree that developing a close relationship with 12 or more board members they've never met before is every bit as challenging as learning about a new company and its culture. But, they say, there are steps new directors can take to make their introduction into the boardroom easier.

Joining the board of MetLife Inc. will provide Danforth an insider's view of the life insurance industry, a perspective he says is "far removed from his world as an attorney and former politician." Like any new director who must learn about a new industry, one challenge is "not yielding to the temptation to ask questions that everybody would view as being totally elementary."

"Rarely do new directors join boards with an attitude of, 'Gee, here I am. I have all the answers,'" Danforth continues. Instead, he notes, they are less inclined to participate during their first meetings because they have not yet reached a comfort level. So, Danforth says he will enlist the help of a "coach, for whom no question is too dumb." He describes this coach as a veteran MetLife director knowledgeable enough about the company and its directors who will "play a big role in getting me up to speed." Above all, says Danforth, his coach "must be patient and willing to suffer fools gladly."

As he nears his retirement at Ford, Booker, age 66, thought now would be a good time for him to pursue an outside directorship, which he says he avoided doing during his lengthy 41-year career at Ford. He joins his first outside board at AGCO Corp., a manufacturer of agricultural equipment. Booker says the board invitation came through another outside AGCO director, Wolfgang Sauer, a Brazilian with whom Booker had worked years ago on a Ford and Volkswagen joint venture.

While Sauer was the only director Booker knew when he joined AGCO's eight-member board, he says he insisted on "making the...

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