Experience Across the Board with Mindy Mount

This interview with Mindy Mount was conducted on September 2, 2021 by Gary Bisbee, Ph.D., MBA.??

The full interview appears on The Gary Bisbee Show, and it can be viewed on YouTube or heard on your favorite podcast platform including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify.

What was life like growing up for you?

I grew up in a fairly small town in Wisconsin. We had four kids in the family. I was 3rd of 4 with brothers on either side of me, who were merciless in teasing me, which later ended up being super helpful when I got to Wall Street having already endured that through my youth. I was quite a tomboy. I loved being outdoors, climbing trees, and riding my bike. And I was a big reader. When I look back at my life, one of my biggest role models was Nancy Drew. I read all those books, I really admired her sense of adventure and independence. And in a way, I think I later modeled a lot of that.

What did you take away from your time at Morgan Stanley that was useful to you as an executive and now in your board roles?

Quite a bit. First of all, at a very fundamental level, you get excellent training in finance and technical finance. You get a good grounding. You develop excellent presentation skills. You're learning how to put together a compelling discussion and sales pitch, and how to talk to senior management. You learn how to tailor your message. I learned a lot about networking. The best bankers develop tremendous networks of people. You come to appreciate the value of the networks that they build and the relationships they build over time.

And finally, I think being a banker gives you the ability to take a very big picture view because you look at companies from a global perspective. As an investment banker, you're looking at whole industries. It helps give you that broader picture focus that is sometimes hard to develop when you're working within a company.

What are the main qualities of a good board member?

You need to have good judgment or wisdom, typically gathered through years of experience.? The company will benefit by having someone who can offer high quality opinions. You need to have worked in environments of comparable size to the company that you're dealing with, because you need a good understanding of the scale and scope of the company. You really need to have courage and be independently minded. There aren't that many people on a board and everyone's thoughts and best ideas matter. The final thing is being respectful to other board members and the management team. The best dynamics in a board are where everyone has the opportunity to speak. No one dominates the conversation, everyone listens, so that you are getting the benefit of their deep pool of knowledge.

How do you think about the balance between governance and management?

That can be a hard line. When everything is working well, it's quite easy to oversee. Where that line becomes harder and harder is when something's going sideways. When the board starts losing a little confidence, or feeling that they're not getting the right level of transparency. There's that saying about “noses in and fingers out,” which a lot of boards like to quote. It's certainly a good reminder that we're there to advise and monitor, we're not there to run the business. But that does get challenged when you're having difficulties. What if you don't like the strategy that the CEO has come up with? What if you don't like the results that you're seeing from the business? How do you deal with that as a board? And that's where the challenge is. It can be very challenging at a board level to make those decisions.

What do you think is the most difficult decision you've had to make as a board member?

The most difficult decisions are always around people, like when you need a new CEO. Part of the board’s responsibilities is to see a problem coming and deal with it before it has a major impact. But that also means when you start the discussion, maybe not everybody on the board is in agreement. There’s always going to people who want to wait.

It gets very emotional. The CEO job is difficult and the people who do it are putting their heart and soul into this. Sometimes they're not bad people, they're just not the right people for what the company needs at that time. These aren't judgments about whether it's a good person or a bad person. It's simply that they don't have the right skill set or strategy for what we need right now. It's our job to make these hard decisions.

What advice would you have for people thinking about joining boards, and how should they go about preparing to be a good board member?

First of all, I would encourage you to go on the boards of nonprofits. It's not exactly the same as a corporate board, but you learn a lot of good lessons about general governance. Second, think about what you can bring to a board. You need to have enough expertise either in a particular subject matter or in an industry where you're going to make a meaningful impact. Take a career path that's going to give you those experiences. And lastly, networking. The best board opportunities are going to come from people who know you and are comfortable with you. Keep up your network, keep in touch with folks. And when you're at that point in your career where you have the qualifications to be on a board, it is important to be out there and let people know that you're looking for those opportunities.