“When you put yourself forward for a role and you don’t get it, it drains your energy.”
“I often feel like I wouldn’t be considered for a chair role or be able to be a chair because I haven’t been a CEO. Boards are extremely risk averse.”
“Your NED career is actually quite short, particularly if you aspire to be Chair.”
“If you have a good SID, often they are automatically assumed to be a good Chair. This should be challenged & examined more closely.”
“Becoming Chair is more likely to happen from the inside than by being hired from the outside. Be aware of this when assembling your portfolio & considering which boards to join.”
Solutions
1. Unpack some of the myths: Do CEOs really make better chairs?
2.Is it always necessary to have a chair who has had chair experience? Surely it is better to broaden the field to include experienced directors. Often that mix of ‘fear & hunger’ in a first time chair makes them extremely committed to the task in hand.
3. As a nomsco member, be prepared to change your mind on the spec: You may start with one line of thinking, but challenge your fellow directors and ask them if this is really what the business needs.
"The US is probably two years behind the UK on ESG, but the shareholder pressure is there now."
"This industry [O&G] has a bad reputation. Think what we would have been if we had women at parity."
"There is less emphasis on workforce engagement in the US."
"The culture on some US boards is to protect the board by not telling them things."
"PwC did an analysis on sustainability that showed a correlation between the number of women on boards and their progress on ESG."
"I ask for honest feedback: 'what do you appreciate about my contributions? What would you encourage me to do differently?'"
"We have a 40/60 board, and it's made a massive difference; it doesn't matter who's talking."
"How do you deliver the next generation of leaders who are more purpose-driven?"
"My big focus in my career was staying in line. This is the only way you can get to CEO; staff jobs are dead ends."
"American shareholders want returns, but they also want the environmental improvements. They want it all, and it is possible."
"Disclosure on gender pay: that never would have happened in the US before now...but it will!"
"US boards have very little governance drivers compared to the UK. That said, the focus on business is equal."