Taming Narcissus: Managing Behavioural Risk in Top Business Leaders

In this research, we explain why and how the behaviour of over-powerful Chairs or chief executives can become a danger, and explore how boards can pre-empt or address such behaviours in order to minimise the risks for the companies they oversee.

Many business leaders have strong and distinctive personalities; their effectiveness may be based on unusual levels of self-confidence, drive and resilience. But having reached the top of the ladder - and achieved success for which they are widely lauded - these very attributes can turn into destructive tendencies.

Optimising Board Decision Making

This paper seeks to identify the characteristics that will enable public company Boards – within the context of current governance expectations and norms – to optimise the value they add on the handful of critical decisions that businesses take each year.

Drawing on insights from academic research on behavioural science and team dynamics, lessons from other ownership structures and the learnings from experienced Chairs, it highlights a set of 20 current and emerging best practices across five broad themes.

How Boards Are Approaching Sustainability

Sustainability is amongst the top strategic priorities that businesses are facing today; all boards are grappling with the same challenges on how to provide effective leadership on this topic.

Based on interviews with Chief Sustainability Officers and Chairs across the FTSE 100, this paper shares best practices on how boards are approaching a critical and evolving area.

Employee Engagement Designated NED

The core purpose of DNEDs is to bring the employee voice into the Boardroom. Their job is to act as a ‘human bridge’ between the Board and the workforce, unfiltered by management.

This paper synthesises conversations with around 50 FTSE DNEDs as well as a number of CHROs and Company Secretaries to describe how innovation is continuing and best practice is emerging. It is also designed to be helpful to potential DNEDs thinking about whether to take on the role, as well as providing some hints and tips for them and more experienced DNEDs.

Renaissance Directors: Reinvigorating Public Companies

For decades, the public company was viewed as the optimal corporate ownership structure. However, in recent years, the effectiveness of the model is often questioned by investors, external stakeholders and indeed board directors. Capital and talent are flowing increasingly to alternative ownership structures.

In this research, we examine the challenges faced by public company boards, explore the lessons they can learn from the best private equity and family-based businesses and lay out five ways to help reinvigorate the public company model.

The Behavioural Drivers of Board Effectiveness: a Practitioners’ Perspective

Over the last twenty years, we have witnessed a steady expansion of corporate governance codes and prescriptions - and yet too many boards continue to fail to prevent corporate crises or to support successful value creation.

Our experience, and this research, emphasises that the greatest determinant of a board’s success or failure lies in the collective and individual behaviour of its members. It identifies seven actionable insights for boards to consider including the skills required to be a great Chairman, how to build the board into a high performing team and the importance of character as well as competence in independent directors.

Private Equity vs PLC Boards: a Comparison of Practices and Effectiveness

We explored three key questions: Are the boards of PE portfolio companies more or less effective than their plc counterparts? What do PE portfolio company boards do differently from plc boards? Are the different board behaviours driven purely by the different ownership models or are there important lessons each can teach the other?

The research identifies some real opportunities for plc boards to consider to help enhance their effectiveness.

With the growing importance of Private Equity (PE) owned businesses, we conducted detailed quantitative and qualitative research with LBS and McKinsey to explore the differences between how PE and plc boards operate.