“The chair imperative: A new mandate for leading in a new world” from Heidrick & Struggles suggests that important board chair/board leadership attributes are not keeping pace with boards’ rapidly evolving responsibilities and stakeholder expectations. This matters because given the board chair’s traditional role in setting or influencing the agenda, advising/counseling the CEO, serving as the primary liaison between the directors and CEO, working with the committee chairs, and often representing the board in shareholder engagements and communications, board leaders that don’t reflect the current and changing environment may make for a less effective chair and a board that is not well-positioned to address many of the new demands and expectations to provide optimal oversight and guidance to corporate management.
To narrow or close the potential gap between the traditional board leader and the new environment, the article advises boards to revisit their views of, and associated practices regarding, the chair’s role and responsibilities, associated desired attributes, and chair selection/succession processes.
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This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!