Today on the Take On Board Podcast, I'm speaking with Malini Raj about how boards stay connected with the people that they serve. 

 Malini is on the boards of The Parenthood, Entertainment for Change, and the Settlement Council of Australia. She's previously been on the boards of the Australian Pituitary Foundation and FinSIA. Malini is the executive director of Australian Multicultural Women's Alliance.

She brings over 20 years' experience across financial services, corporate, and the not-for-profit sector, and serves on several national boards that I've already mentioned. She's a strong advocate for inclusive leadership, gender equality, and greater representation of multicultural women in governance and decision-making.  

Links and Resources

Malini on LinkedIn

Spotlight on Cultural Diversity - Women on Boards

How WOB is working to get more diverse women on boards

WORKING TO GET MORE DIVERSE WOMEN ON BOARDS (Page 26 - 27)

Counting Culture

Social Impact and Board Roles

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Today on the Take on Board podcast, I share key takeaways from a WorkSafe Victoria event, “Hearts, Minds, and Improving Your Business,” featuring Professor Lea Waters on the neuroscience and business impacts of psychological safety in the workplace.

I explain the difference between psychological health and harm, including how each affects thinking, decision-making, behavior, and workplace outcomes like profitability, turnover, innovation, and incidents. I also outline four pillars boards should oversee: work design, work management, workflow systems, and workplace environment, and the hazards and protections that sit under them.

I highlight why this matters for boards, including that, in Victoria, psychological health is now legislatively on par with physical safety, and I suggest practical board actions such as reviewing risk registers, resourcing, and boardroom psychological safety.

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WorkSafe Victoria

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Today on the Take on Board podcast, Sarah Federman joins me to talk about "corporate reckoning," which she defines as the process of finding a way back and healing massive, irreparable harm that organizations have caused in the past. I was keen to dive into how organizations, many of which in Australia have reckoning to do around issues like stolen land or people, can address their inherited legacies.

Sarah shared that the temptation is to defensively hand these issues over to legal or PR teams, but this can make things worse. Instead, I learned that the whole board needs to be involved, acknowledging that they have inherited both the good and the bad from their predecessors. A great example is The Guardian, which set up a 10-year restorative plan after discovering its founding money came from slave owners.

We also discussed her powerful idea of having a literal or metaphorical "seat for the past" at the board table. This spot, which could be filled by a historian or descendant, allows the board to step back from present-day concerns and consider their long-term legacy and how they will be remembered. Ultimately, the work is ongoing, hard, and should be restorative, not punitive, to strengthen the company's integrity.

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Sarah on LinkedIn

Sarah Federman's Website

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This week, I’m sharing a short, focused solo episode on board inductions. I’ve been having numerous conversations with board chairs and directors, as well as with my own board, regarding this topic, especially since we have some new board directors joining soon. 

I’d like to share some ideas for creating an effective induction process. Like anything else, the best induction is tailored to your organisation. I’ll go through various ideas I've been discussing with others and have encountered. Feel free to take inspiration from these suggestions if they resonate with you.

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Board induction checklist

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Today on the Take on Board podcast, I’m speaking with Karen Tisdell about LinkedIn. I had Karen on the podcast a couple of years ago, and this episode is an update to that discussion.

As you listen to this episode, please note any questions you might have, because Karen will be joining the Take on Board Community for an online event on Thursday, May 21, 2026. Reserve your spot here.

Karen transitioned from recruitment to working directly with individuals in 2009. Since then, she has helped board members and senior leaders use LinkedIn to build trust, increase visibility, and develop relationships that open doors. Karen particularly enjoys working with board directors because successful board careers are built not only on capability but also on connection.

Links and Resources

Karen on LinkedIn

Karen's website

Take on Board online event with Karen Tisdell (21 May 2026)

Take on Board episode 160 with Karen Tisdell: LinkedIn for board members—tips and tricks for being recruited and networking

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Today is one of the sessions with just me, and I wanted to reflect on a conversation we had at one of the accelerator groups recently. As many of you know, I host a program called Take on Board Accelerator. Each month, a group of board directors comes together, and we pull apart a challenge.

We share achievements and resources on the topic, and then somebody brings a challenge to the table. Now, I am not going to go into all the details of the challenge that was brought to the table, but I did think I would just touch on some takeaways and resources on the topic because it was super useful for the people in the room, and I reckon it'll be super useful for you. So the topic for this month was navigating the impact of kindness and niceness on boardroom effectiveness and decision-making. 

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Today on the Take on Board podcast, I'm speaking with Julie Lyford about the critical role of the board chair as the unifying force within the board, along with the challenges and benefits of that philosophy.

Julie is the chair of WELA, the Women's Environmental Leadership Australia. She's also on the boards of the Green Institute and Gloucester Transitions Incorporated. She was formally on the Boards of Regional Development Australia Hunter, The Sunrise Project, and various local government boards including Hunter Councils.

A few things about Julie, she immigrated to Australia at 18. She's lived in Gloucester for 40 years, which is a wonderful rural community. She's a former registered nurse. She's been a local government counselor, and she's passionate about climate, social justice, and good governance.

In 2015, she was an awarded a Order of Australian Medal for work with the community, local government and environmental activity. 

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Julie on LinkedIn

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Day two of the Australian Governance Summit 2026 was filled with even more important governance insights, expanding on the themes from day one. We listened to an excellent group of speakers, starting with Kate Waterford on the vital need for boards to proactively utilise AI, moving beyond security concerns to address its full disruptive potential. 

I shared takeaways from Philip Chronican on Australia's economic position, emphasising agility, social cohesion as a key strength, and the urgency of the housing challenge. Melinda Clarke offered thoughtful reflections on the value of boardroom hypotheticals in crisis decision-making, and Katie Constantinou expertly explained the critical chair-CEO relationship, highlighting the importance of trust based on shared values and clear roles. 

Helen Hu offered valuable insights on shifting investor expectations toward long-term sustainability and active engagement, while my own reflections centered on the future of the care sector—specifically, the "delightful tension" around funding and the need for purpose-driven commercial balance in the boardroom. 

Finally, we ended the day with insights from Jane Davel on fostering psychological safety for difficult conversations and Karen Raitt's thoughts on sports governance, before Nicola Gibbs wrapped up with a discussion on linking productivity to investment risk appetite and the need to free up board time for strategic priorities.

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Today, on the Take on Board podcast, we have the crowdsourced Day 1 recap from the Australian Governance Summit (March 2026, Sydney). It covers key themes raised across sessions. The summit opened with an Acknowledgement of Country linking stillness and shared purpose to stronger governance. That session was followed by AICD chair Naomi Edwards on boardroom diversity progress, collective board accountability, lessons from the Star Casino case (including board responsibility for information and board packs), and bringing secure, well-briefed AI into board decision-making.

Helen Hu summarises CBA chair Paul O’Malley on stewardship, structural forces reshaping strategy, and disciplined capital allocation for resilience. Kate Waterford reports on geopolitics as a mainstream board risk, with cyber as a priority and practical near-term de-risking actions. Claire Schonfeld relays ASIC chair Joe Longo on growing complexity, judgment beyond compliance, innovation, and AI as board-level priority.

It was a pack day of sessions including chair expectations in recruitment, payroll compliance risks and data sovereignty, Pamela Hanrahan’s regulatory update (hard/soft regulation and AI’s impact), future-proofing director skills through digital and AI literacy, and Chris Bradley’s optimistic “strategic realities” framing of global shifts.

We'll be back next week with day two.

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In this solo episode of Take on Board, I share my keynote from the 2026 Board Observership Program launch. I discuss how the program helps emerging leaders under 40 and builds strong board succession pipelines.

I highlight that diverse boards make better decisions, but only when inclusion and psychological safety are prioritized through intentional connections. My five tips for observers: connect broadly, stay curious, own your seat, use your fresh perspective early, and fully commit to meetings, training, and events (and have fun).

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