Before you sit on a compensation committee, you think compensation is about paying people fairly, and that framing makes sense from where most executives sit. After you sit on one, you understand something different. Compensation is not about fairness. It is...

  I want to tell you something I have watched happen more than once in a boardroom. The CFO finishes the presentation. The slides are clean, the story is well-framed, and the headline number looks fine. And most directors in the room nod, ask a few general...

  I want to tell you something I have never put in writing before. When I first joined the board of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York, I knew I belonged there. My background said I belonged there. I had spent years in public leadership, I understood...