- A pressing need to “wake up, smell the coffee, do your math and count the house carefully”
re: 2020 proxy issues. - A new need to re-visit and re-articulate “the purpose of the corporation” in response to the recent Business Roundtable and Council of Institutional Investors calls for action.
- Need to recognize fast-growing voter support for environmental issues among investors of all ages…including calls for more robust financial analysis and disclosures on climate change and ‘sustainability’ - and calls for more robust action plans.
- Need to recognize growing calls for more diversity - and for better “human capital management“ in general.
- A new focus on succession planning in light of record-high CEO turnover in 2019.
- Growing requirements for more rigorous board and committee evaluations - and for more robust information sharing about the process - and the results.
- Growing instances of votes-no for directors at companies that are seen as being in need of “director refreshment” or as “ESG laggards”.
- More votes-no on say-on-pay proposals to “send a message” to management - not just about pay but about other perceived mis-steps or shortcomings.
- Continuing threats from activist investors and ‘financial engineers’ seeking renovations and often complete overhauls - and outright control - of public companies: calls for actions via “consent solicitations”.
- Increasing needs for public companies to recognize potential challenges to the status-quo - and to “get out front early” on potential issues.
- Increasing needs for early outreach to - and “engagement with” - key investor constituents.
- A pressing need to know who the influencers are - and how best to engage them.
- Need for public companies to do a better job of summarizing their ESG record up-front - in Annual Reports and related proxy materials.
- Need to cultivate, and to increase, individual investor and employee-investor engagement and voting: They will often be the deciding factor in closely contested matters.
- Need to get up to speed - and to get your shareholder communications up to speed for mobile voting.
- Need to stay fully compliant - and to be sure that all of your suppliers are fully compliant with all rules and regs: Hot issues = cybersecurity, investor privacy, records retention, state escheatment laws - and the need for tight security over shareholder information, both within the company and at all outside suppliers.
- Need to do all of the above within tight
bugetary constraints. - Need to watch your backs - and stay alert to the fast-changing and basically over-crowded supplier-scene: Many of today’s suppliers are likely to be gone within five years!
- Need to have suppliers who can bring good ideas to the table; ideas that add value without adding new costs.
- Need to have trusted suppliers who “get it” - who can spring into action instantly - and who are among the “very best in class”.
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