Turning the Board’s Focus to the “S” in ESG - a podcast by BDO USA, LLP

Join BDO's Center for Corporate Governance Amy Rojik as she discusses why and how boards are turning their focus to the “S” in ESG with Nora Denzel, a seasoned Silicon Valley technology executive and dynamic public company board of director at AMD, Ericsson, NortonLifeLock and SUSE Linux.

Key Takeaways

• “S” is not just about shareholders – it is about the health and well-being of all of your stakeholders: employees, suppliers, customers, and communities your serve

• “S” is in an “early” market phase – First step is to turn inward and perform “bottoms up” (e.g. pulse surveys, open door policies, view your health/benefits offerings) and “top down” (e.g., select the material issues to your company, particularly your talent pool)

• Select your framework in identifying relevant ESG issues to your company and perform a materiality analysis of the impact of these issues aligned your company strategy

• Ensure you are developing your ESG information via a stakeholder lens that has the same rigor, processes, inspection and metrics that other important corporate initiatives do

• Communications – How and Who and When

• Internally – Determine how might dashboards need to change; how might committee charters need to change; understand tone at top, mood in middle and buzz at bottom

• Externally – Ensure your CSR plans have built-in continuum of accountability

• Boards have an opportunity to take a deeper dive into company data and identify trends and areas for improvement

• Focusing on the “S” can be a path not only to strengthen overall value creation but to also protect against reputational damage

• Start small and be cohesive: Tell a “single” story – integrate your reporting based on strategy and the identified critical success factors and how these are managed

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