Lining up the right team to act in the best interests of the company

  • 📰 BDliveSA
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 69 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 31%
  • Publisher: 63%

Canada News News

It is not only the composition of the board that counts but, perhaps more importantly, how the board works

One of my go-to quotes whenever I am teaching directors and boards about their roles and responsibilities is this one by Charles Exley, a past chair of NCR Corporation, a company that has been around for more than 130 years: “

I then go on to ask what one of the most important words or phrases in this quote is. Most people respond with “doesn’t apply any more”, which is obviously a huge challenge when one has learnt a lot.ut I think the most important word in the quote is the word “most”. I believe this because in working with boards over the past decade I think the most important thing for them to discern is what things have changed and what things have not changed.

The distinct generations tend to be 15-20 years in length. Millennials are those people born between 1980 and 1994. That would make them 23-38 years old.Based on the Directors Sentiment Report carried out in 2018 by the SA Institute of Directors most directors in SA are over the age of 45 . Only 9% of directors are under 35. Most of these board members also tend to be, in the commonly used phrase, “pale and male”.

Don’t get me wrong — I am not against anyone of any particular profile or characteristics sitting on a board. What I am against is a mindless tick-the-box approach that dilutes or undermines the whole purpose of the board and its ability to lead and govern a company well. I also firmly believe that many of the challenges, hurdles, and in some cases downright failures, we have seen across a whole range of different companies stem from badly constructed and badly run boards.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 12. in CA

Canada Canada Latest News, Canada Canada Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Untu: Trains vandalism spiked after security companies' contracts terminatedThe union said it was worried for the security of its members as train stations and rail-lines were being vandalised since Prasa terminated the contracts of private security companies.
Source: ewnupdates - 🏆 30. / 53 Read more »