Memorandum for Victor A. Schroeder' 2. Secretariat Installation It is recommended that a Secretariat-type operation be It is recommended that staffing of the Secretariat be as At such time as the Secretariat becomes operational, it is 3. Communications Task Force A formal Communications Program for the Corporation should Memorandum for Victor A. Schroeder staff involvement, while providing most opportunities for *No specific assignments are recommended for the Chairman, President, and Executive Vice President so that they may be available to any unit. **Contact persons are to be responsible for the monitoring of all information generated or received by that unit. Because of the diversity of Directors' views as to It should also be noted here that all of the activities PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT CLOSED MEETING OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS January 20, 1983 INTRODUCTION I will now discuss what I believe to be important considerations pertaining to two key areas with which all of us are concerned, namely, the need for improving Corporate communications and our intention to monitor more closely the development of the comprehensive strategy we are to submit to the Congress in only 17 months. At this time, I want to thank you again for making interview time available and for the forthrightness of your discussions with Bob Coughlan. I have devoted considerable study to the concerns you expressed during those interviews concerns with which I concur, as I'm sure you know. A lot of work remains to be done before I can come to you with a fully developed plan for solving all of those problems; but I think it will be useful if I share with you now some of the approaches I am working on approaches which I believe will assist us in achieving more discernible progress toward timely. accomplishment of our goals both as a Board and as a Corporation. - First, regarding communications between and among members of the Board -and, most particularly, between the "outside" Directors and the Chairman and it is clear that there is an urgent need to improve matters. As I see it, the problems are chiefly - me - 1. A requirement for more attention to the interests of all Directors by the "inside" Directors, and 2. A need for improvement in the mechanics of communication. I think you will see that both of those deficiencies will be overcome by the measures I will propose for your consideration later in this presentation. Second, regarding the Corporation's communications with our external constituencies, I am proposing that we, as a Board, with the assistance of selected Corporation staff, make a concerted effort - within the next 60 days to develop and implement a very comprehensive and carefully orchestrated communications process. I will outline for you today considerations I believe most important to the success of such a program. (To insure its effectiveness, the program will also address improvements in the Corporation's internal communications.) President's Statement January 20, 1983 Third, I want to bring you up to date on what's being done relative to the recommended comprehensive strategy. As you may recall, I - with your permission-- assumed direct responsibility for making an in-depth review of that activity; and I have made several important changes in how the staff is approaching that task. Now, I will proceed to address some of the specific concerns we have. COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN AND AMONG DIRECTORS At the Board level, as I mentioned, certainly there must be more attention at Corporation headquarters in making sure that all Directors are kept fully informed at all times. We on the "inside" are committed to doing a better job at that. Another important step we can take not only will help us keep everyone better informed, but also will provide us with the means for facilitating communications between Board members, as well as with the Corporation staff and with our constituencies. I'm talking now about a secretariat-type function as the focal point for the Corporation's communications network. The unit need not be and will not be large. No new staff will be required, nor will any major reorganization. Such a unit can be implemented with the reassignment of very few personnel and the institution of limited procedural changes. Once installed, however, communications can be coordinated and expedited very effectively. - - I have available for you a more detailed description of the functions and staffing of the secretariat unit I recommend. If you agree with me that such a unit should be installed, I will initiate action immediately to insure that the unit is operational before the next Board meeting. COMMUNICATIONS WITH OUR CONSTITUENCIES Another major concern we all share, of course, is the matter of our communications with our constituencies. I am developing a comprehensive and, I believe, practical program for improving such communications, a program which I intend to propose for your adoption at the next Board meeting. However, I believe there is one other consideration we must also address that impacts directly on the whole matter of communications. - Specifically although we must be concerned about how and what we communicate as a Corporation, we also must concern ourselves with what our |