Maggie Wilderotter: Strategic Oversight and the Attributes of Great Directors

from Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein · host Maggie Wilderotter, Evan Epstein

(0:00) Intro.(1:30) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.(2:15) Start of interview. (3:05) Maggie's origin story.(7:08) Maggie's board career. Reference to HBS case study on her. On staying on boards between 8-12 years to remain independent.(10:19) On distinctions between serving on public and private company boards. The role of directors in each. *Reference to VC-Backed Board Academy (VCBA) on Oct 29, 2024 at Nasdaq in NYC.(13:37) On PE-backed company governance.(14:58) Debate on staying private vs going public.(18:07) On creating her own board bootcamps for women and minorities, and placing directors on boards. "She's trained ~750 people: over 70% have been placed on their first board"(21:49) On the evolution of boardroom diversity. Getting into the nomination-governance committee.(24:21) On board leadership as chair of the board and/or other committees. "As a board chair, I'm a facilitator, not a dictator."(28:04) On the board's role in strategy: 1) oversight, 2) insight, and 3) foresight (3-5 year increments). (30:37) Costco's strategy (including details on its famous $5 rotisserie chicken). Legacy of Charlie Munger.(36:30) On attributes of great directors: "They're great listeners and learners. In addition to participants, they know when to lean back and they know when to lean in. They ask questions versus making statements. They spend time outside the boardroom with senior leaders and with other board members to get to get to know them."(38:30) On stepping up as a CEO at Docusign, and dealing with its leadership transition.(41:30) Increasing importance of transparency, and explaining "the why" to stakeholder and stockholders.(42:37) Books that she enjoys.(42:53) Her mentors. (43:36) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by.(44:18) An unusual habit or absurd thing that she loves.(46:26) The person she most admires.Maggie Wilderotter is a seasoned executive and board member with extensive experience leading both Fortune 500 companies and startups. She currently serves on the boards of Fortinet, Costco, and Sana Biotechnology, and she is the Chairwoman of DocuSign. You can follow Evan on social media at:X: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

What this episode covers

Maggie Wilderotter is a seasoned executive and board member with extensive experience leading both Fortune 500 companies and startups. She currently serves on the boards of Fortinet, Costco, and Sana Biotechnology, and she is the Chairwoman of DocuSign. She has held significant leadership roles, including serving as the CEO of Frontier Communications from 2004 to 2015. Impressively, she has served on 56 corporate boards—36 public and 20 private companies—and acts as a senior advisor to many private equity and venture capital-backed companies and firms. In our discussion, we talk about her remarkable board career, explore the differences between serving on public and private companies, and gain her insights on boardroom leadership. We also address topics like boardroom education, strategic oversight, and the attributes of great directors. Stay tuned for an enlightening conversation with one of the most experienced directors in corporate America. If you like this show, please consider subscribing, leaving a review, or sharing this podcast on social media. You can also contribute as a Patron on the link patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod or you can subscribe to the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at evanepstein.substack.com This podcast is sponsored by the American College of Governance Counsel.

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This episode was published on September 30, 2024.

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