Why are there so few CHROs sitting on boards? It’s a question we keep confronting. There are so many reasons to change this, so many points that speak directly to why CHROs would be a huge asset on boards. To get there, let’s first debunk the myths and misunderstandings standing in the way.
Despite the grave inaccuracy, the HR function seems to be hamstrung with an old assumption that it is primarily “the overseer of personnel matters.” This lingering characterization tends to classify HR executives more as executors rather than strategists. In fact, today this is far from the reality. Over the past few decades, HR leaders have taken on widely expanded responsibilities around strategic decisions revolving around talent, organizational [re]structuring, management processes, and cultural growth—all instrumental in both sustaining and transforming organizations and driving business performance. Most recently, during Covid, HR leaders became especially high profile when they took on broader remits addressing all manner of then hugely vital concerns--from real estate to health benefits & wellbeing to business continuity.
CHROs have become a lynchpin of the C-Suite, connecting dots across the enterprise and the executive team, quite often acting as the sounding board for CEO’s most sensitive challenges. In many ways, it can be said that CHROs have had a front-row seat to the evolving nature of work and operations of the 21st century. If any leader would be an asset on corporate boards, it would be the bearers of this knowledge.
Today this assessment is greatly amplified by CHROs new responsibility as overseers of the scaling of AI across organizations. It is the CHROs who are having to think about the key issues of productivity across people & machines and the appropriate models to deliver quality, value, and efficiency. It is they who are helping configure and will be leading major workflow adaptations with new tools and overseeing the cultural implications and workforce restructuring related to this technology integration. It is the CHROs who are helping manage enterprise risk and architecting both experiments and solutions as the world quickly shifts into new paradigms.
If anything puts CHROs at the forefront of strategic enterprise impact, this does. And, therefore, now is the perfect time to reevaluate why these leaders remain so largely unrepresented in the boardroom. Today, CHROs represent a very small minority (<2% by some estimates) of director seats. There are exceptions; and where CHRO are enlisted as board members, they are often highly regarded for their contributions. Isn’t this track record just another compelling reason to add more CHROs to boards?
CHROs are experienced in navigating complex topics with grace, effective at managing wide-ranging stakeholder perspectives, and are daily demonstrating courage, conviction, and independence as a regular part of their roles. Especially in light of AI being such a tremendous macro force and a major focus for boards presently (and well into the future), doesn’t it make sense to have the CHROs who are helping lead this change participate in its governance? Boards are and will be actively debating risks, M&A opportunities, capital investments, geographic footprint, and workforce restructuring. Surely, including the capable leaders of these massive transformations on boards would be the optimal strategy for future success.
Rather than relying on outdated assumptions of where board candidates traditionally come from, now seems to be the perfect moment to fill boards with more strategic CHRO expertise.
