Unease in the Board CEO relationship
Harmony at board level is critical to a company’s success, but perhaps even more important is the healthy relationship between the board of directors and the CEO.
Harmony at board level is critical to a company’s success, but perhaps even more important is the healthy relationship between the board of directors and the CEO.
It is now universally understood that independent and non-executive directors play a significant role in the success of a business, and in strengthening board governance and its effectiveness. The challenge lies in selecting the right persons for the right board.
Is it better to be in a family business? I ask the question to provoke some thinking.
Who does not wish to cling to a position which gives you status and an annual retainer? Many independent directors have been on the same board for ten years and over.
It is not easy chairing a board of directors’ meeting with a deviant in your midst. They always say no when the others say yes. They say yes when the others say no.
On a few occasions during a board meeting you feel that it would be better if there were no executives around to express an opinion or a point of view.
One of the biggest challenges facing business in these last twenty years is that of adapting to the change brought about by outside forces.
There is more than ample evidence that boards of directors in Malta are steadily, although quietly, changing. A number of factors have contributed to this.
For a time, a number of former senior bank executives and semi-retired accountancy firm partners were being regularly contacted to sit on boards of newly registered companies with foreign shareholders.
Board directors expect to receive what they consider a standard board agenda. It includes management accounts, (perhaps) a sales and operations report, (hopefully) budgets, a request for approval of a capital expenditure project, besides the even more standard corporate governance items of approval of half yearly or end of year financial statements, auditors’ reports etc.