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Thisarticleoriginallyappearedin‘Yahoo!’,‘SanFranciscoChronicle,‘BostonGlobe’,‘Reuters’,‘HoustonChronicle’.
Canalackofgrayhairimpactboardpresentations?
ThenewCEOofalargerealestateinvestmentcompanyworriesthatitcan.
HesoughtoutcoachingfromAnettGrant,PresidentofExecutiveSpeaking,Inc.,aglobalspeakingcoachingcompany
headquarheadquarteredinMinneapolis,Minnesota,becausehewantedhelp.“HowdoIdealwiththechallengeofhelpingmy
boardtransitionfromthelastCEO–whowassixtyyearsold,bigger,andhadgrayhair–tome,somebodywhohasa
muchmoreyouthfulappearance?”
Whilehisconcernwaspersonal,theissueofageintheboardroomgoesbeyondcosmetics.
“Thesigniicantissue“Thesigniicantissuetodayisnotgrayhair,orblackhair,butrather,thegenerationaldividethatisconsistentinboard
roomsacrossthecountrytoday,”saysGrant.
AccordingtotheindingsofTheSpencerStuartBoardIndex,theageoftheaverageboardmembercontinuestoincrease
steadily.OnS&P500boards,theaverageageis62.6–upfrom60.2in2001.Additionally,38%ofboardshaveanaverage
ageof64orolder,whichismorethandoublethepercentageadecadeago.
“Thesegene“Thesegenerationaldividesaregapswhichthreatentobecomechasms,”saysGrant,“andleadersmustfacethe
challengesofbridgingthesegapsheadon.”
Oneofthebiggestchallengesforleadersispresentingaboutthe“new”–thenewsocialmedia,thenewtechnology,the
newmillennials,thenewglobalization.Howdoyoukeepthefocusonthebusinesscase–versusgettingsidetrackedin
thebuzzofexcitement,thebarrageofanalytics,andthetrendlinesofuncertainty?Howdoyoukeepboardmembersup
tospeedwiththenewinthistimeofunprecedentedurgencyandescapevelocity?
“Thekeytocommunicatingtoday’sexplodingcomplexitiesisnotaboutdumbingitdownandminimizing,butrather
aboutelevatingandorganizing,”saysGrant.“Beforedescendingintothegranular,leadershavetocreatehierarchiesof
information”–whatGrantcallstheSandwichApproach.Boardpresentersmustcontinuouslytransitionfromconceptto
detailsinbite-sizepieces.
AsGAsGrantexplains,someboardmembersjustwanttoknowtheconcept–whatkindofasandwichisit?Thenthenext
groupwantstoknowaboutthedetails(theillings).Thensomewanttoknowaboutthedetailsofthedetails
(condiments).Thensomemayevenwanttoknowaboutthedetailsofthedetailsofthedetails(themolecularstructure
ofeachingredient).
ByimplementingtheSandwichApproach,leaderscankeeptheirdiverseboardmembersengaged.
“TheSan“TheSandwichApproachalsohelpsboardmembersfeelsmart,”saysGrant.“Championsofthenewhavetoremember
thegoaloftheboardmeetingisnottopresentanawesomedisplayofthebrightandshining,butaclearbusinesscase
fordecisionmaking.”

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