The business world has changed dramatically over the past few years. The human element is key –in the business of risk-taking. Thus, the rising complexity of board directorship.
New challenges are coming up, from geopolitics to generative AI and digitization to sustainability. Therefore, being a board director is probably more complex than ever. New topics pile onto the board agenda almost by the day. We’ve also seen a massive increase in the expectations of the board to engage on strategy, investments and M&A, performance management, risk, talent, and the organization. These are all is all additives, so the amount of engagement required of the board has gone up dramatically and it’s not letting up.“We do see director time rising over the past five to ten years. On average, boards are spending 32 to 33 days per year in total, including committee work and preparation.”
The challenges that management teams face today are quite different from before. Many executive teams had never experienced the kind of trial and tribulation that they went through over the past few years, so having a strong relationship with the board and leaning on directors as advisors in navigating through the challenges has become more important.
“Given the number of issues we have to address, how boards and management engage is changing. No longer is it four board meetings a year. Now we have inter-quarter board meetings and meetings of special committees that handle specific topics, such as diversity and inclusion”…
Board experts explain how directors can meet the demands of growing agendas:
Read all of it here.
