The Mindful Board – Restructuring the Model

The possible area for restructuring is the current governance model. Over a period of 30 years we have created highly defined and demarcated zones of governance. There’s ownership: what is the role of the shareholder? There’s directorship: what is the role of the board? There’s management: what is the role of the executive? And while this has been useful in separating and creating role clarity, it has created a sense of a Cold War between those three, with a kind of uneasy Détente at the inflection points around board and shareholder meetings. What would it take for a board at the fulcrum of those governance relationships to become more fluid, at times to operate more like an owner, at other times to be more like a manager, and others to be more like an entrepreneur? While at other times, to be more like a risk manager, a safe pair of hands? What would it look like to have a “directorpreneur” mindset to coordinate or to link a range of views that one might have at any given time, to be able to permeate across the boundaries of the role while remaining true to the core intent of the role?