In this episode, we are joined by Founder and Director of the IMD Global Board Center, Prof. 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. We speak about four pillars of good board governance: people, information, structure and  processes, and group dynamics.  

What Was Covered

• Didier’s definition of board governance as “the art of decision making at the top of organizations”
• The particular challenge that corporations with a long history face to transform and how this requires board leadership that “breaks the internal mould, breaks bureaucracy and opens up to the world”
• What Didier has identified as the four pillars that constitute good governance – 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 – 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 “synthetic” – 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 “art” of stimulating the right discussions, ensuring all views are considered and bringing these together – and the importance of this to enabling a functioning organization

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Podcast

• Get in touch with Prof. Didier Cossin via LinkedIn and email: [email protected] 
• IMD Business School for Leadership and Management Courses - www.imd.org 
• IMD Global Board Center - https://www.imd.org/board/board-center/ 
• The list of Prof. Didier Cossin's articles and publications