20 | theceomagazine.com
YOU DON’T HAVE TO
CROON LIKE SINATRA
TO BE ‘CHAIRMAN OF THE
BOARD’, BUT LISA SMYTH
LEARNS THAT THERE’S
MORE TO THE ROLE THAN
INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE
AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS.
W
hile not all CEOs will become chairperson
of the board, it’s safe to say nearly all
board chairs have CEO experience. Last
year’s Heidrick & Struggles Board Monitor
report found that nearly half of new board
appointments to Fortune 500 companies were current or
former CEOs, and that 75 per cent of appointees had
previous board experience.
And, while many companies, especially in the US,
appoint their current CEOs to act in a dual role as chair of
the board, the responsibilities of each are vastly different.
The CEO is responsible for the leadership and management
of the organisation, and for implementing its strategic
vision, while the board chair is required to effectively lead
the board of directors to enable it to function as the highest
decision-making body in the organisation. Former Dayton
Hudson CEO Kenneth Dayton said it best: “Governance
is not management.”
So, if you find yourself in the board chair position, what
exactly should you do? And, what sets good board chairs
apart from great board chairs?HOW
TO BE
A GOOD
BOARD CHAIR