Egon Zehnder sees more global, diverse boards

The board of the future will be different. Berthold Leube and George Davis at the headhunting firm Egon Zehnder sense that big changes are in the wind. "Good governance has gone global," they write. They're not the first to say so, and the evidence they present is more indicative than definitive. But as far as large, listed companies are concerned it sounds right. Seven drivers, they say, lie behind the change:

• Transparency: Disclosure requirements are rising around the world.
  
• Diversity: And not just gender and ethnic make-up. Diverse work experience, expertise, nationalities, even ways of thinking will characterise the board of the future.
  
• Global directors: Which is not quite the same thing as diversity – directors will be similar in the diversity of their backgrounds.
  
• Risk: Risk awareness will be more important as risk management grows as a component of the board's agenda.
  
• Duality: A split between chairman and CEO is happening, like it or not. Where it isn't, a lead independent director is achieving much of the same result.
  
• Independence: These non-executive now chair the main committees at most companies and will have an increasing voice in decisions.
  
• Professionalism: Being a director used to be a job for the talented and experience amateur. "Within committees, members may work on specialized topics like sustainability, risk management, and succession planning," they write. "All of this work requires an unprecedented degree of professionalism, dedication, and fine-grained knowledge on the part of today's board member."

With those changes come – perforce – as change in how boards recruit new directors. That, too, will be more professional. If that sounds like the pitch at the end of the presentation, you're right. What it doesn't discuss is what might be lost in the move towards professionalisation.

Source document: The Egon Zehnder briefing has a link to a pdf version with a couple of photos that speak volumes about the images and symbols of boards.