Podcasts Business OutsideVoices with Mark Bidwell 059 - Four Pillars of Good Board Governance with Prof. Didier Cossin

059 - Four Pillars of Good Board Governance with Prof. Didier Cossin

Published: Oct. 24, 2017, 6 a.m.

In this episode, we are joined by Founder and Director of the\xa0IMD Global Board Center,\xa0Prof. Didier Cossin. Didier is a global expert in governance, and in addition to his role at IMD has served as a consultant to the United Nations, the European Central Bank and multiple major corporations, including HSBC, Vodafone, Schlumberger and Coca-Cola.\xa0We speak about four pillars of good board governance:\xa0people, information, structure and\xa0 processes, and group dynamics.\xa0\xa0

What Was Covered

  • Didier\u2019s definition of board governance as \u201cthe art of decision making at the top of organizations\u201d
  • The particular challenge that corporations with a long history face to transform and how this requires board leadership that \u201cbreaks the internal mould, breaks bureaucracy and opens up to the world\u201d
  • What Didier has identified as the four pillars that constitute good governance \u2013 people, information, structure and processes and group dynamics - with good and bad examples of each

Key Takeaways and Learnings

  • A good assessment of board effectiveness is the extent to which it focuses on the past compared to the future \u2013 and that most boards spent too much time looking back
  • A board must ensure it receives the proper balance of internal and external information, of formal and informal information. That the very best board packs are \u201csynthetic\u201d \u2013 they use a variety of tools to synthesize the information that tracks the evolution of the key metrics
  • The criticality of the difficult task of organizing a board so its committees are well structured and focused on the issues of most importance to the organization
  • How a Chairman needs have the \u201cart\u201d of stimulating the right discussions, ensuring all views are considered and bringing these together \u2013 and the importance of this to enabling a functioning organization

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Podcast