Five critical responsabilities of the Board
Some days ago, in London, Lucy Marcus (@LucyMarcus), recently appointed Professor of Leadership & Governance at the Instituto de Empresa, in Madrid, Spain, organised a Board Seminar entitled: "Future Proofing the Boardroom: The Critical Agenda" which I was unable to attend but which looked very interesting, including with a very interesting group of panelists. In the summary, they lay out 5 essential issues which should be addressed by a company's Board, which they summarize as the following, although I understand that the session touched on many other matters as well: - Infrastructure.
- Technology,
- Internationalization,
- Communication,
- The balance of continuity and change
All good and important issues for the Board to have under control. This list made me think of my five critical responsabilities of the Board, which are the following:
- People; taking care of the quality of the working environment, ensuring the correct skills in the company and growth path for the needs of the employees and for the growth of the business and timely management of succession plans of the senior people, especially of the Chairman and of the CEO and including issues such as compensation and equality, of women and minorities
- Corporate Social Responsability (CSR); ensuring all stakeholders are involved in all aspects of the company. including the environment
- Shareholders; balancing the returns of the shareholders with the needs of the business (share of the pie). Also catering to the growing demand of shareholders that companies understand the need for sustainable, long-term shareholder returns, in the context of the company's responsibilities.
- Risk management; financial and non-financial, including business challenges, changes in the environment in which the company is working in and will work in, planning for the future of the business in a changing world, technology changes, etc.
- Government and regulatory; both financial, reporting, environmental and business.
The Board, lead by the Chairman, has much work to do and it is important that its responsibilities are clearly defined and differentiated from the important work of the Chief Executive Officer, which should be a separate function in the company and held by different individuals. See Details of the Agenda.
