Thought Leadership related to Board Directors & Chairs

President Lincoln appointed three of his rivals to his cabinet. To outsiders, this seemed like a dangerous move, and that’s a profile in courageous leadership. Does this present a functional framework for building Boards – or not?

Six things CTOs and CIOs can do to prepare for board service.

Since the turbulent summer of 2020, significant strides have been made across the world to diversify boards. The next level of the work is to move beyond counting numbers to reaping the business advantages of balanced representation.

Progress has been made on getting more underrepresented minorities onto corporate boards, but this same level of progress hasn’t translated to committee chair and board chair/lead director roles.

While tech has become the operating system of today’s companies, less attention has been paid to the Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Technology Officer (CTO) who designs, guides, and implements these operating systems.

In the last five years, boards in the United States have been more intentional about adding directors from underrepresented minorities. However, that same level of progress is lagging when it comes to board leadership positions. Ninety percent of chair positions in Russell 3000 companies are held by white directors in 2022, and 87 percent of committee chair positions are held by white board members. We gathered 25 corporate directors in their first few years of board service and four experienced board leaders for a conversation about how to move from board member to board leader.

In June 2022, Egon Zehnder held the latest event in its Corporate Governance Exchange (CGX) series, which brings together chairs and Nomination & Remuneration Committee chairs to share insights and challenges for board members who want to increase their strategic impact. This CGX event focused on “ESG and the Role of the Board,” and featured Douglas Peterson, President and CEO of S&P Global, as a guest speaker.

In the past, boards treated board succession tactically, appointing the most eminent available candidate or someone who could meet an immediate need.

A discussion on the “what” of a high-performing board (i.e., understanding the role of the board and its agenda) and the “how” (i.e., the dynamics of the boardroom and how it should operate via personal interactions and styles).

A discussion exploring the changing landscape of corporate governance for board directors of India’s top public sector banks.

The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented turmoil around the world. For companies and their boards, it meant reacting quickly and decisively in a gloomy landscape. To understand the state of governance in this landscape, we held regular virtual gatherings throughout 2020 and 2021 with a diverse group of board chairs and non-executive directors from around the APAC region.

A practical guide to landing your first corporate board seat. Interviewing for First-Time Board Service: read successful strategies for meeting the unique challenges of interviewing for a directorship.