Conviction in the Boardroom

In Uncertain Times, Boards Hire the Résumé They Already Know

The WSJ reports on new Conference Board research: boards are adding fewer first-time directors and more former CEOs, as first timers fell from 39.1% to 21.6% of new Russell 3000 seats in a year. Experience matters. But boards hiring only what they recognize risk governing the company that used to exist.

Harmony Doesn't Mean the Absence of Discomfort

A leader spent six months creating a chance for me to present to his board, then folded when the room got uncomfortable. He wanted harmony. Real harmony requires the courage to move through discomfort, not around it.

What a Board Learns When It Finally Assesses Itself

Boards evaluate everyone else. The most revealing review is the one they turn on themselves.

No One Wants a Seat Because of a Label

A shareholder once demanded to know why Dambisa Moyo deserved her board seat. Her answer to that moment says a lot about where inclusion has to go next.

Custodians, Not Owners

Every leader inherits something built by others and will hand it to someone else. How you hold it in between is the measure of your leadership.

The Best Boards Are Made of People Who Won't Edit Themselves

The Wall Street Journal's new Best Boards ranking measures something rarely scored: whether a board is likely to defer too much to its CEO. Deference is an edit at the top, and a mix of backgrounds only pays off when each director feels free to use it.

Nurses Belong at Every Table Where Decisions Get Made

Cole Edmonson and Nancy Mannion of the Nurses on Boards Coalition came to show that nurses are good for business. The case is stronger than most boards realize.

The Strategy Is Announced in the Boardroom. It's Lived on the Night Shift.

Every health system strategy has two versions: the one presented in the boardroom and the one lived on the night shift. New data shows a 30-point gap between how executives and frontline workers rate leadership. Closing it starts with the translators in the middle.

Boards Audit the Numbers. Few Audit What People Are Allowed to Be.

UPS CEO Carol Tomé served on the company's board for 17 years without seeing what was really happening inside its buildings. Boards audit the numbers carefully. Few audit what people are allowed to be, and that is where the warning signs live.

By Month Six, the Room Already Knows

Boards should judge a new CEO six to 12 months in, one expert argues, years earlier than most do. The earliest signal is not financial. It is whether the people around the new leader are speaking up or editing themselves.

CEO Succession Starts the Day a CEO Is Hired

The hero CEO is fading. Boards now need leaders who build strong teams, earn trust one decision at a time and treat succession as an evergreen process. Here is what future-ready CEOs do differently.