What the Best Board Chairs Do Differently

Описание: Wayne Peacock shares the exact cadence he used with his chairman at USAA—and why being reactive to bad news destroys trust faster than anything else. Jane Sadowsky explains why CEO is "a really lonely job" and personal connection matters.

In this segment, the panel reveals:
• Lead director must-have qualities: collaborative, patient, cool under pressure, NOT reactive
• Admiral Zortman's leadership style: never leads with his answer, draws out insight first
• Wayne's chairman cadence: scheduled calls every other week + unscheduled weekly calls
• Why many conversations weren't about business—grandkids, personal well-being, being a father
• Chair and vice chair spent 2 days every 6 weeks with frontline teams WITHOUT senior management
• "Sent them out into the wild" to verify if boardroom information was accurate
• Committee chairs built formal routines with C-suite members
• Being reactive signals that bad news can't be surfaced—"the way the CEO gets treated is a signal to everybody in the room"
• CEO as lonely job: knowing "the four corners of the challenges" including personal life

This discussion provides the concrete practices—not just theory—for building the CEO-chair relationship that enables trust.


Recorded January 21, 2026 in Houston, TX
Moderated by Stephen Newton, Russell Reynolds Associates
Featuring Wayne Peacock and Jane Sadowsky, Commissioners of the 2025 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission Report