October 31, 2023 - The Evolving Role Of The Chairman In A Family Business

John Harte is an expert in family business and governance and joins us to host a session on the role of the chairman in a family business and how the role is continuing to evolve in order to meet the needs of the family and the business.

Volatility, high inflation and recession remain big issues facing family boards. During this challenging time there’s huge pressure on chairmen to ensure an effective board - one that can navigate their way through these volatile times to business success.

The presentation will cover how chairmen on family boards need to evolve during these uncertain times so they can ensure their board remains effective.

Key learning points to take away:

Don’t put power ahead of performance - having the matriarch or patriarch at a family firm as the chair is not often conducive for an effective board. The chair must be chosen on merit.

The chairman must engender a culture of agility and adaptability - this releases the potential of directors and employees to provide new ideas to help take the business forward.

The chair must focus on board diversity while engendering a culture of inclusion - look at the board through the prism of the five drivers of diversity - demographics, skills, experience, thinking styles and circles of influence - and consider how well the current line up matches up.

Understand cash is king - distractions during volatile times can take the mind of directors off this important point. The chair needs to focus the board on cash flow.

It’s all about the people / talent - the chair needs to have effective relationships with those on the board, which means they must have emotional intelligence.

Understand the board’s vital role in cyber security – the chair must ensure the board has ongoing and active cyber security conversations in the boardroom.

Think about risk and the opportunity it presents – the chair should highlight to the board how effective risk planning can provide a new opportunity, a competitive advantage, to drive long term business success.

Join us for an interactive session which forms part of the 2023 Global Family Business Summit.

Find out more and book your tickets to join us here