It is acknowledged that the office of a Director is a “high calling”. It is oftentimes challenging and requires of the individual certain attributes to achieve effectiveness. Whilst each Board has its own peculiarities, being possessed of these attributes will enable the Director to perform optimally and contribute to Board effectiveness. These include the following: […]
Good corporate governance practices are essential for efficient, viable and sustainable growth of companies and institutions, including governments. The contemporary view of business is that the Board of Directors and Management are responsible to not only shareholders, but to stakeholders. There are generally two main stakeholders to be considered- external and internal stakeholders. While external […]
As this crisis has unfolded, many companies have put the health and safety of their employees, customers, and communities first. Unfortunately, due to the unforeseen magnitude of the pandemic, essential employees were often put in the position of working without the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and without adequate prevention standards in place. There is […]
A crisis is a major catastrophic event, or a series of escalating events, that threaten an organization’s strategic objectives, reputation, or viability. Crises can be classified into two – routine and novel. Routine events are the known risks for which organizations can plan and develop procedures – including taking out insurance, emplacing robust enterprise risk […]
In recent times, the media has become saturated with grim headlines on the impact of Covid-19 reverberating across the world and for the first time in modern history, the world is focused on one problem. As governments all around the world implement and extend lockdown in a bid to get their countries through what is […]
There are arguments in favor of term limits for Directors. By establishing Director tenure limits, organizations make room for rejuvenation and the onboarding of Directors with new skillset and relevant experience. Boards also set tenure limits to allow for membership to be refreshed periodically. As businesses evolve, the skillsets required for Board effectiveness change. Tenure […]
There are some common misconceptions about the role of the Board of Directors. Some people think the Board is a mysterious group of people who waltz into head office and shut themselves in the Boardroom every quarter with stern faces, attending long and boring meetings where they criticize and lambast Management. Another group believes the […]
The role of the Board is a crucial one and as such legislation and a plethora of cases recognize the Board as the alter ego of the Company. Although shareholders are owners, the complex nature of company membership does not allow it to exercise and carry out the far-reaching duties that are consequential to running […]
A conflict of interest occurs when an individual is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation for an act in the other. It is inevitable that Directors will face situations of potential conflict of interest with the companies they serve. The “Agency Theory” postulates that Shareholders are principals and Management […]
It has been argued that serving on multiple Boards afford Directors the benefit of diverse experience that impacts positively on their individual performance and that of the respective Boards on which they serve. The recourse to insight garnered by a Director from dealing with a particular problem on one Board would certainly come handy when […]