Women Corporate Directors - Boston
Monday, January 22, 2018 Dinner
Colonnade Hotel, 120 Huntington Avenue, Boston
6:00 PM Cocktails, 7:00 PM Dinner and Discussion
How Will You Know If Your Company’s Culture Unintentionally Tolerates Sexual Harassment?
Every board believes its executives are ethical and that they promote a culture where people are respected and treated with dignity. How then can we reconcile the headlines in today’s newspapers with the mission statements on companies’ web sites? Sexual harassment is a major risk management issue for boards of directors and cannot be ignored. Allegations can have serious reputational risk, financial liability, and impact on an organization’s relationship with employees and customers.
What do we, as board members, really know about the culture of the company and what questions should we be asking? We may understand the “tone at the top” but how do we find out about the “mood at the middle” and the “buzz at the bottom”? Every new employee has an impact on the culture. How do we reinforce the desired culture and assure it remains true to the original intent? What are some ways we can audit culture the way we do the financials? How do we protect women (and men) from the abuse of power that is behind sexual harassment, but still allow them to be mentored and develop relationships with senior leaders? There is no rulebook for the management of culture and every company will answer these questions differently.
Our dinner program will focus on understanding and addressing these critical questions.
Our fellow WCD member and speaker Dana Born, whose bio is below, will talk about her experiences with sexual harassment while she was Dean of the Faculty at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Dr. Dana Born is at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) of Government where she serves as Co-Director of the HKS’s Center for Public Leadership, Chair of the Senior Executive Fellows Program and a Lecturer in Public Policy. She is a retired Brigadier General with thirty years of service in the United States Air Force. From 2004 to 2013 Dana served two terms as the Dean of the Faculty at the USAF Academy (USAFA) focusing on strategic issues of national importance including organizational behavior/capacity, inclusive excellence, cyber security, unmanned aerial systems, strategic leadership, risk management and global competence. Prior to that she served as Chair for the Behavioral Sciences and Leadership Department. Earlier she served as an Exchange Officer with the Royal Australian Air Force, Aide and Speechwriter for the Secretary of the Air Force, Squadron Commander during 9/11 and in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Dana received her B.S. in Behavioral Sciences from USAFA; M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Trinity University, TX; M.A. in Research Psychology from University of Melbourne and Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Penn State University. Dana is President of the Massachusetts Women’s Forum and currently serves as a Governing Trustee on the USAFA’s Falcon Foundation serving on the strategy, governance and scholarship committees. Prior to its acquisition, Dana was an Independent Director on the board of the Apollo Education Group serving on their compensation, audit and litigation committees.
We will then turn to our members for table discussions of what boards can do to promote and monitor a culture that respects individuals and creates value for shareholders. We look forward to seeing you January 22, 2018.
Elaine Eisenman, Renee Knilans, Pam Lenehan, Mary Ann Tocio
RSVP to Pam Lenehan: [email protected]