The world faces a global shortage of technology skills, according to experts, and in our latest interview Deanna Mulligan, former chief executive of Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, reveals how the crisis might be addressed.

Mulligan speaks about her new book, Hire Purpose: How Smart Companies Can Close the Skills Gap, which spells out how a corporate purpose focused on lifelong learning in the workplace can address the shortage.

She says we have learned much from the pandemic in how to address the issue. “One of the things we learnt is that companies can be much more flexible and adaptable than perhaps they have been in the past or thought they would be,” she says. “And we saw employees learning new skills on the fly in order to help with this crisis.”

She adds: “We are continuing to function as a society in really dire conditions we hadn't really anticipated. And the reason we've been able to do that is because companies have been able to adapt. As this crisis hopefully subsides, we will be able to use those skills to really attack this skill gap.”

Legal & General Investment Management has over £1trillion in assets under management, is one of Europe’s largest asset managers & provides investment management services for many of the UK’s biggest corporate pension schemes. We talk to Sacha about Legal & General's current agenda with boards  and where it may go in the future;  about inclusive capitalism & the changing environment for boards as they come to terms with demands for action on climate change and sustainability, to be purposeful and to be accountable to not only to shareholders but all stakeholders, including customers, employees and the communities their firms serve. 

Dame Alison Carnwath discusses the role of the non-executive director, future fit boards & the skillsets now needed by board members to meet the demands of a rapidly transforming business environment. 

Dame Alison  is presently an independent director for Zurich Insurance Group AG, BASF AG and PACCAR, and a Non-executive Director of BP.  She is also a Senior Advisor to Evercore Partners, and Chair of the Strategic Advisory Board at Livingbridge. Between 2008 and 2018 she was Chair of FTSE 100 property company Land Securities.

Dame Alison Carnwath was the recipient of the Sunday Times Non-Executive Director Lifetime Achievement Award 2020. 

What does it take to be an effective non-executive director?
The demands on non-execs have grown considerably in recent decades, while the pandemic has added significantly to the pressure confronting organizations. What are businesses looking for from NEDs  & how can a non-executive director make a real contribution to the boards they serve?

During this podcast of Board Agenda  editor Gavin Hinks  will be asking three winners of the Sunday Times NED Awards 2020 for their perspectives about how they think the role has changed in recent years, what is required for non-execs to be effective in boardrooms today, and the advice they would give to anyone beginning a career as a NED. 

Interviewees for this podcast are: 

• Bernadette Conroy who is on the board of Network Homes & the Financial Conduct Authority
• Ian Durant, Chairman of Greggs PLC the bakery group & DFS the furniture retailer
• David Rasche, Chairman of the technology company GB Group

In this episode of Board Agenda, we interview John Allan, the Chairman of Tesco & one of the UK’s foremost corporate leaders to gain his insights about the role of non-executive directors, their responsibilities and priorities at time when their role on the board has arguably never been more critical, during a period of great uncertainty for business community & the economy of the UK. 

We discuss the key issues that boards should focus on in the current business environment, the questions NEDs should be asking senior management, how the pandemic has influenced the priorities for boards & companies, how boards can get the most value from their NEDs & the skills & expertise most needed on boards in these challenging times. 

 
This episode aims to explore crisis leadership, a pressing issue in boardrooms during the current pandemic. 

Crises can have diverse origins: natural disasters, cyber-attacks, data breaches and political upheaval.

Handled badly, a crisis can ruin a company’s hard-earned reputation and threaten its very existence.

Covid-19 is an extreme example but how should boards and leadership teams plan for and best manage crises that confront them? 

Our guests this episode are Matt Dalton, partner at Mazars who is the firms lead on organization resilience and Professor Ludo Van Der Heyden from the INSEAD corporate governance centre, who recently produced a paper entitled a ‘Crisis Management Blueprint for Covid 19’

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