What Keeps Directors Up At Night?

The survey listed the following leading concerns for directors, in descending order of acuity: IT/cyber security; business innovation/disruption; enterprise risk management; shareholder activism/engagement and government investigations. Leading concerns of surveyed general counsel were similar, with government investigation and shareholder activism considered more acute than ERM. Of particular interest is that almost half of the surveyed directors said that their general counsel formally presents to the board at each board meeting. A third of the surveyed directors said that their general counsel reports to them not only at each full board meeting, but also in private sessions. Even still, that suggests that approximately 20 percent of the surveyed directors do not receive a scheduled briefing from the general counsel. Survey comments also expressed concern that the frequency of general counsel presentations is set by management, “so you never know what you are not aware of.”