Boardroom INSIDER for… MAY

WHY DOES “BOARD LEADERSHIP” LOOK SO SCARY?

The past decade has seen global corporate boards increasingly step up and display leadership in their companies. Yet despite calls for more boardroom agency, we remain deeply ambivalent about this trend.  Writing in the May issue of online monthly Boardroom INSIDER, publisher and governance speaker Ralph Ward notes that “every discussion on the need to strengthen boards is quickly followed by cautioners about board overreach.” 

Though regulators, investors and courts encourage boards to exert stronger oversight and control, this often leads to clashes with chief executives.  “The old saying that boards should keep ‘noses in, but fingers out’ of operations works better as a slogan than as practical guidance.”

Ward notes that balancing board and chief executive powers could benefit by redefining terms. If boards shape effective, functional committees; have useful, timely information on company operations;  and report to management as much as management reports to them, “both sides become better, and stay in their lanes.”

Also in the May issue of Boardroom INSIDER …

Helpful tips for new audit committee chairs
When AI meets D&O policies, legal liability can explode
Q&A: The “danger zone” for board minutes

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Ralph Ward’s new book…

Hacking the Boardroom (Taylor & Francis) is the lifesaver every director needs today.  This is the intelligence that boards must have to do a better oversight job, in less time, with less effort, and fewer legal dangers.  Proven “how to” insights from front-line board members, CEOs, corporate staffers, top consultants and legal advisors.  Corporations, nonprofits, government enterprises… any organization where directors are battling 21^st Century governance realities will learn from the hacks in this “owner’s manual for the boardroom.”

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NEW – the audio version of Hacking the Boardroom now on Audible!

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…is an internationally-recognized writer and commentator on the role of boards of directors, the secrets of how benchmark boards excel, gaining a board seat, and the future of governance worldwide.

Ward is the publisher of the online email newsletter Boardroom INSIDER, the worldwide source for practical, first-hand advice on better boards and directors ( www.boardroominsider.com).

He is author of the books Hacking the Boardroom (2025), Board Seeker: Your Guidebook and Career Map into the Corporate Boardroom (2018), Boardroom Q&A (2011), The New Boardroom Leaders (2008), Saving the Corporate Board (2003), Improving Corporate Boards: The Boardroom INSIDER Guidebook (2000), and 21st Century Corporate Board (1997).

Ward is a certified trainer, and speaks internationally on board and governance topics, and presents a “Boardroom Masterclass” seminar worldwide, with recent programs in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.  His media appearances including CNNfn, C-SPAN, Voice of America, Bloomberg Money Show, National Public Radio, Marketplace, and CNBC (U.S. and U.K.).

Ward has also edited The Corporate Board magazine, the international journal of corporate governance, since 1990. He writes and comments on boardroom matters for a number of other publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Across the Board, Crains, Vital Speeches, the Detroit Free Press, Barrons and INC.com., and serves on several advisory and non-profit boards.