In today’s episode of What’s New at CFI, join us as we talk all about the G in ESG. Our latest ESG offering is a mini module of three courses with a module dedicated to each of environmental, social, and governance issues and financial materiality.

Today, we focus on governance issues, which are arguably the most important, because without proper governance, how could anything be actioned?

Transcript

Meeyeon (00:13)
Hi everyone and welcome back to our last installment in our series on the ESG mini modules. Today, we’re talking all about the G piece, governance. And so I’m going to hand it off to Noah, Noah Miller, you’ve seen him here before.

Can you tell us a little bit about the G piece in a nutshell?

Noah Miller (00:37)
Absolutely, so the G piece, governance. At the end of the day, what we’re talking about is the way a company is managed and the approach of the leadership. So, you know, one thing that I’ve learned in my professional life, athletic life, military experience, is that the fish rots from the head. So everything comes from the top, no matter what environment or context you’re operating in. So that underscores that, you know,

Without the G, there really is no E or S performance, because you need to have the policies, protocols, performance measures, practical organizational structures to be able to implement these things. So without the G, the E and the S is a pipe dream at best and a greenwashing risk at worst.

Meeyeon (01:26)
My gosh, that was the most visual metaphor. But it’s certainly like, yeah, I definitely understand it. And I understand it as well as that saying is bold.

Now, one of the questions that I have is going to be addressing more of the whole ESG mini module series, not just governance, but with ESG, what kinds of ESG jobs or career paths do you think

Noah Miller (01:31)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Meeyeon (01:56)
that the ESG MIDI module series supports?

Noah Miller (02:01)
Yeah, so I think it really is a real utility kind of offering in terms of anybody that’s going to be either seeking a managerial position in their careers, where any current manager, aspiring manager, the governance module, in particular, is going to be really helpful from a kind of what’s the 101 on governance and what are the tactics that I can start thinking about and deploying today.

On the other side of the coin, whether you’re an ESG analyst with your first job or you are an ESG director or officer at the top, or if you’re even in the C-suite being asked about ESG from your external stakeholders, you’re going to need to have some pretty clear responses to what does this stuff mean for your company?

What are you doing about it, and how is it going so far? Those are the types of questions, no matter what level of the organization, you’re going to have to answer in some respect. So these mini modules are really good either rapid deep dive or refresher, if you’re getting reacquainted with the material around.

Why are these issues commercial issues? How are they distinct and similar for finance entities versus company operators? And then broadly speaking, what are the kind of key risks and opportunities they present to these different stakeholder groups? It’s irrelevant across the board.

Meeyeon (03:29)
Wow.

And that, what a way to wrap the whole series together. this is going to be like the most, I think, this is going to be our most brief podcast, but I can’t think of a way to wrap this up better. The, the G is the end of ESG, but without it, you can’t hold it all together. G is the, G is the glue, governance glue.

Noah Miller (03:54)
That’s right, that’s right. G, the glue.

Yeah.

Meeyeon (04:00)
And so for anyone that is looking to get a bit more expertise on ESG as a whole topic, regardless of which order that you decide to take the courses in, this is going to be a very exciting series for you because it’s going to be as Noah has described, whether you are just starting out your career as a finance professional or you are near the mid or the top, this is going to be a hot topic that

everyone needs to be well versed in. So with that, this wraps up 100 % of our ESG mini module series and the podcasts around them. So I hope that you have enjoyed all three in whatever order that you’ve taken them in, and we will see you all next time.