Boardspan Insights
What's happening in the boardroom? The best thinking and expertise on board topics, trends, and news from the Boardspan team.
Recent Posts
Management succession planning is a challenge for boards. We know because they tell us. In Boardspan's 2023 Board Performance Benchmark Report, we ask boards to rate their performance in nearly 60 board governance topics. Every year that we’ve collected benchmarks, succession planning has been the N...
We’ve always referred to committees as “the workhorses of the board.” And boards agree: in our 2023 Board Performance Assessment Benchmark Report, committees scored higher than any other performance area. Without strong standing committees – Audit, Compensation, and, of course, Nominating & Gove...
Governance Planning: A Holistic Roadmap for Better Board Performance What is Governance Planning and why is it important? Let’s look at a Tale of Two Boards:
In the past 4 years, risk has shown up in business in ways we’ve never seen before. But though the risks have changed, the fundamental importance and pillars of risk management haven’t. In this Boardspan Backchannel, Ken Bacon, a longtime corporate leader, and board member in financial services, tal...
Board members strive to be strategic. That’s where boards make the biggest difference in their performance and the performance of the organization. But the biggest impediment to helping an organization with strategy comes from not being able to take on the weighty topics, which most likely means tha...
Maggie Wilderotter, the former Chair and CEO of Frontier Communications, began an illustrious boardroom career at the age of 28. She currently chairs the board of DocuSign and is a director of Costco Wholesale, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Sana Biotechnology and Lyft. Here, she joins Boardspan founde...
Boardspan is honored to collaborate with our partner, Teneo, on this shared blog post about the relationship between the board and the CEO.
In our Boardspan Backchannel series, we talk to the world's most experienced and successful board members and corporate leaders to get their insights on the challenges that boards face today. In these conversations, you'll get an insider's view into navigating modern corporate governance.
An increased focus on DEI, “Quiet Quitting,” bad behavior by employees and leaders…these are just some of the valid reasons, for better or worse, that corporate culture is at the forefront of organizational initiatives today. Whether it’s to limit risk exposure or to focus on creating a more positiv...
Boards are tasked with a lot, and to accomplish their objectives members need a common understanding of their role and responsibilities. Surprisingly, even among experienced board members there can be different ideas about what the job entails. Just ensuring that everyone is on the same page can go ...
It’s no secret that a board’s roles and responsibilities are more complex and more challenging than ever before. With the multitude of issues at hand–whether it’s shifting political and economic variables, or an increasing emphasis on DEI and ESG–the spotlight on the board of directors has never bee...
Great alignment is fundamental to the success of any team. Look at a winning sports team, and you see common traits: They are coordinated, self-aware, and most important, aligned around goals, strategies, and tactics. The same is true of boards. Members of a high-performing board, like members of an...
The days of check-the-box board performance assessments are over. To be sure, self-evaluations are still required for public company boards and a best practice for all, but boards have figured out that a well-orchestrated assessment provides valuable insights to guide the board and the process is wo...
Recruitment – it’s part art and part science. And the success of your search for a new board member (or executive) should be measured on both the quality of your experience and your satisfaction with the results. So who you work with and how they run the search process matters, significantly. Like m...
Hard as it may be to believe, most chief executive officers today receive their annual feedback in the form of a bonus check. Maybe it’s a great bonus. Maybe it’s less than expected. Either way, when the chair of the company’s board compensation committee swings by to drop off an envelope before rus...
The idea of “being assessed” traditionally conjures up images of an interviewer in a white lab coat, carrying a clipboard and taking notes on everything from what you’re wearing to what you’re saying and the mannerisms you’re using. Though this is one form of assessment, it paints a rather uncomfort...
Every board wants its CEO to thrive--and there’s one simple thing all boards can do to improve the odds: Offer FEEDBACK. It’s surprising how many boards expect top performance from their executives, but only give feedback when they have a specific disagreement or concern about performance metrics. T...
Change is good: it’s what drives most of business success. We accept that, with change, we will encounter unknowns that can be both favorable and challenging. Preempting downside while making change is a critical aspect of risk management.
As a leading authority in the board assessment space, Boardspan is often asked: “What does good look like for a board?” We recently released the first U.S. Board Performance Index (BPI) to help boards everywhere benchmark their own performance to keep their contributions high and their sights focuse...
It’s an exciting time to be in the boardroom. Everyone knows the board’s job is bigger, more demanding, and far more important than ever before. Board members are embracing a larger portfolio of responsibilities and deeper engagement with an array of issues. You are listening to more constituencies,...