Going Farther, Together: The Future of Boards

The leadership challenge of balancing short and long-term decision making is an age-old dilemma and doing so in an ethical manner with the greater societal good in mind is certainly not a modern-day phenomenon. Despite the current debate about corporate “social purpose,” there have been many forward-thinking business leaders throughout history who recognized that purpose and profit can co-exist, with varying degrees of well-documented successes and failures due to a multitude of reasons.  

One thing that is different today is the velocity at which change, and disruption are affecting organizations. In fact, a recent survey report notes that only 14 percent of global c-level executives are highly confident their organizations are ready to fully harness the changes associated with Industry 4.0. The dynamic, disruptive environment in which businesses operate is upending traditional practices, redefining the stakeholder community, and extending responsibility and accountability.

In this environment, the stakes are too high to not be laser focused on fundamentally re-thinking a board’s composition and practices to not just manage through complexity in the short-term, but to implement a future-proofing approach for the long term, including keeping the best interests of an organization’s people, clients (and customers), communities, and other stakeholders in the mix.

Boards of private organizations, which represent a significant portion of the market in the US, have a unique opportunity. I represent that portion of the market, being the chair of the board of one of the largest private partnerships in the world. Being private brings with it a certain level of freedom and control to pilot new approaches as a testing ground for modernized governance that balances profit and purpose, with the potential to drive real impact that matters. If provided a certain level autonomy to pilot and test ‘doing better,’ it would be careless not to.   

It’s been about 120+ days since I became chair of the board, but I’ve been equal parts student of and active participant in governance for much longer. There are many dimensions to consider in what the future of boards should be, but one fundamental opportunity I see is:

• Boards and business management being better connected. Appropriate transparency, and continuous dialogue, including constructive challenge, can create a healthy tension that should be seen as positive and necessary to advance. From this, an agreement on a handful of critical priority areas can emerge that will help sustain and strengthen the value of the organization in both the short and long terms. Then, carrying that shared agenda through by the ways in which members of the board and management appropriately divide up responsibilities (governance and oversight vs. day-to-day operations and revenue responsibility) on each issue and remain accountable to it.

Meaningful change in how boards and management engage and work together can drive progress against agreed upon priorities. Two particular areas that I believe are of utmost importance for boards and management to address now are:

• Diversity and Inclusion: It is well known that diversity brings many different dimensions of value. Solid, albeit slow, progress is being made to achieve diversity of thought and experiences at the board level. However, an often-overlooked element to achieving the benefits of diversity is having a board culture of inclusion.  Boards can seek to maintain a culture in which all voices are heard by governing around inclusive leadership traits such as collaboration, curiosity, and cognizance of bias. And boards should seek to instill these traits not only in board members, but also by holding management accountable for developing inclusive talent.
• Ethical Technology Decision-Making: The issues of our time, technology disruption and the societal implications associated with it, require boards to be technology and digitally savvy, and to be able to make ethical technology decisions related to how technology is used by employees, customers, and their broader ecosystems. It’s no longer just within the purview of companies with technology as the core of their business; as technology permeates all organizations, so does the responsibility of understanding ethical implications.

The future of boards is a topic that warrants exploring more, as there are many other aspects that go into rethinking board composition and practices. I will be digging in and sharing more in this space in the months to come.

But what this early take reinforces is that in order to properly address the velocity of change facing the business world today, there needs to be strong connective tissue between the board and management on a shared agenda and commitment to it. Considering a tighter, more transparent tie between those responsible for the management of the business, and those that govern it, and the diversity of thought and experiences it brings together, sets the foundation for the road ahead. As a very famous and often-used African proverb states: if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.