It was encouraging to see the Post Office announce this month that “We will appoint two serving Postmaster Non-Executive director roles, and these two roles will bring stronger perspective into the room to help the Board make more informed, and better balanced decisions.” Continue reading “Great news for the customer – the postie’s coming on board!”
Author: Ian White
In December 2020, we brought together a group of very experienced board members from across our client group to find out what working through lockdown has taught them. This note summarises their experience and their wisdom as we face the challenges of the new year. Continue reading “Leadership from the board in lockdown”
We all might be forgiven for thinking that our political masters have been courting popularity at the expense of practicality and safety recently, especially when it comes to COVID. First they grant people a Christmas meet up, then they shorten it and finally they suggest perhaps a Christmas bubble is not a good idea after all but that it is up to people to act responsibly and use their common sense. This lack of leadership and accountability rather reminded me of two principles I read about when studying for my MBA:
One of the common features of board effectiveness reviews is to assess the composition of the board: does it have the right mix in terms of skills and experience? Is it diverse in the widest definition of that word? What will the board need for the future challenges of leading the company?
A mediator in the boardroom? You might question whether a mediator is ever needed around the boardroom table – after all, aren’t boards just there to endorse what the CEO says? Of course, that is not really the case. While there have been some recent examples of boards sadly lacking in challenging the executive, or showing the requisite leadership, they are the minority rather than the norm. That is not to say things can’t improve, they can.