Archive | Blog

How Not to Fire a CEO: Sam Altman, November 2023

When OpenAI’s Board suddenly fired its CEO Sam Altman in November 2023, it sparked a lot of discussion in the places that track AI as well as in the places that track Board activity. One of the most interesting and useful is this graphic, “How Not To Fire a CEO: Open AI Boards’ missteps in […]

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WSJ Job Boards

Back in 2013 when Paula Asinof and Mina Brown published the first edition of Be Smart: Sail Past the Hazards of Conventional Career Advice, it included a chapter titled “Real Job, Fake Job” about the job boards pointing out the “there are a lot of jobs you can apply for on the Internet, but many […]

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Remember that [Board] interviews are peer-to-peer

Athena Alliance Newsletter 2/9/2023 Try to relax as much as possible. By the time you are interviewing, the board already knows you have the hard skills required. You do not need to prove how much you know; more interesting is how fast you can learn. What is your sense of inquiry? Do you want to […]

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Yellow Brick Path establishes new advisory board

Yellow Brick Path is pleased to announce the three inaugural members of its new Advisory Board. Joining the Board are Patricia Q. Connolly, Richard D. Daniels, and Kenneth R. Lay. Each is a previous Yellow Brick Path client, has had an extensive career in senior leadership roles in well-known organizations, currently serve on for-profit and/or […]

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It’s still who you know! Networking for Board Candidates Circa 2021 – 2022

A recent study, published for subscribers of The Review of Financial Studies, July 2021 and redistributedin summary form in a posting of Transformative Governance Insights, February 2022 by the GuptaGovernance Institute at Drexel University, concludes that director appointments are (still) heavily drivenby “who you know”. What is new from this study is its conclusion that […]

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Board Diversity Initiatives – California, Goldman Sachs

Over the past decade attention to the Board role and composition has exploded, often with attention toincreasing diversity among its members. One notable event is California’s legislative approach (9/30/2020) summarized in a post by the HarvardLaw School Forum on Corporate Governance: In a move that continues California’s push for increased diversity on corporate boards, Governor […]

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The Ultimate Board Candidate Test

I was going through some papers recently and found this description jotted on a piece of notepaper. Illustrate strategic inquiry and the ability to collaborate at an advisory level as an overarching steward of the business My recollection is that this comment was originally focused on Board candidate interviews. However, Ithink it can provide broader […]

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Board Registries and Marketplaces

While the support for adding women and minorities to Boards began in earnest a decade or two ago,there has been a significant ramp-up in the past few years – both in the maturity and sophistication ofexisting programs and an increase in new entrants. There are now numerous private, associationsponsored, and university-based programs to educate, support, […]

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Yellow Brick Path Board Services

Paula Asinof, President & Founder of Yellow Brick Path Paula Asinof is an authority on bios & resumes for executives and board director candidates and has led a nationally recognized career management, coaching and consulting firm for 15 years. She is known for her practical perspective and “straight talk” based on extensive real-world experience as […]

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