Applying First Principles Thinking to Board Meetings

The meetings are a bit easier to handle when there is nobody in them…

As I have previously written, I am a fan of first principles thinking. While first principles thinking is great for aligning executive teams, it's equally valuable for aligning management teams with their Board of Directors.  

While every Company’s board is unique, its duties, function, and dysfunction are pretty common. How to communicate, when to communicate, what to communicate, the board’s role, and management’s obligations are typically areas of friction. Moreover, board members often bring experiences that may not suit present circumstances. The attached document is meant to help late-stage private companies and newly public companies collaborate well with their boards by setting forth the first principles for their interaction and then devising “rules of the road” to put them into motion. The principles in this document should apply across a broad range of companies and be universally applicable. The rules of the road that follow will vary from company stage and scale but are otherwise middle-of-the-road concepts. 

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback on this document for elevating the content and sharing their battle scars!  

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