Glenn Kaufman has sat on eight boards over the past 25 years. He's Chairman & CEO of KEH Camera, North America's largest buyer and reseller of pre-owned photo and video equipment, Chairman of KPS Global, and Managing Director and Founder of D Cubed Group. He previously served as Board Director and Chair of the Finance Committee at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, and on the boards of El Pollo Loco and Potbelly Sandwich Works. Before any of that, he was a corporate attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
On this episode, Glenn talks about CEO board accountability from a rare vantage point: he's built and sat on the other side of that relationship for most of his career. He explains why he treats himself as reporting to his own board even though he's technically on it, the exact line he opens every board letter with, and how he tells a company that's genuinely healthy from one that's been dressed up to sell.
Every letter Glenn sends his board opens with the same header: where we fell short. Not the wins, not the highlights. His reasoning is direct: if you're not falling short somewhere, you're not paying attention. Leading with the gaps, in his own words, is what makes a board actually trust the rest of the report. It's a small habit with an outsized effect on board of directors trust, and it costs nothing to adopt.
Glenn's approach to the CEOs and management teams he backs at D Cubed Group comes down to one sentence: "Next to you, I have the most money invested in this business." It's not a management technique, it's a fact he says out loud, because people don't see your personal stake in something unless you tell them directly. For anyone thinking about CEO board relationship dynamics, this is the kind of specific, repeatable move that does more than a generic "we're aligned" conversation ever will.
Every company looks great the day you walk in to evaluate it, the same way a house looks great the day it's staged for a showing. Glenn walks through how he separates a genuinely healthy business from one dressed up for a transaction, and why transparency, not the sales pitch, is what actually gets you the right partner. This is a useful lens for anyone doing private equity board governance work or evaluating a potential investment or acquisition.
Glenn draws a hard line between a company that's fine and one that's long-term great. Most companies land in the first category. Getting to the second, he says, takes total commitment starting at the board level, and there's no guarantee you get there even if you try.
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LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/anthonyctaylor604
Connect with Glenn:
D Cubed Group: dcubedgroup.com