Mike Perry, Chief Scientific Officer for Cell and Gene Therapy for Novartis Pharmaceuticals, attended three programs at HBS Executive Education to expand his knowledge of corporate governance. He discusses his experience in these programs—Making Corporate Boards More Effective, Audit Committees in a New Era of Governance, and Compensation Committees, New Challenges, New Solutions—and how they have improved his performance.
I think the programs were excellent. While there was some overlap among them, they were also very complementary in that the focus of each one was different. And after completing all three programs, I have a deeper knowledge and a much better sense of how to go back and implement some of the strategies that I've been taught. I'm now confident that I can go back to the organizations where I serve as a board director and have a real impact on board processes and significantly upgrade our performance.
I wanted to get an overall sense of the evolving landscape of corporate governance, with a focus on audit and compensation. While I don't chair an audit committee because I'm not a financial expert, I do serve on audit committees and also chair compensation committees of publicly traded companies. I wanted to ensure that I understand my duties, the current trends, how the landscape is changing, potential requirements in the future, and how to best deal with shareholder activism.
I love the case study approach at HBS. It's very relevant, and it makes the lessons relevant. Some of the stories in the cases are real page-turners. They get into the details of the individuals providing elements of character, explaining their decision-making, and it's almost like reading a novel. I really got into them. And then adding in the component of the lessons to be learned brings the experience to another level. Having had previous experience in the CEO role of a few companies, I bring that experience to the table. What I'm looking at now is more participation on boards. I think HBS Executive Education provided me with just the right mix of what I needed.
Among the takeaways are a few basic things: specifically not leaving my own management experience at the door when I walk into the boardroom; understanding company strategy at a fundamental level and linking it very directly to the governance process and structure—to compensation, internal controls and processes, audit, and other elements. By truly understanding corporate strategy, one can clearly and simply extrapolate goals and objectives, and then tie compensation to appropriate metrics that truly link to company fundamentals and ultimately to company performance and sustainability.