You've probably sat through some version of this. The CEO succession item gets a solid forty minutes. Names on a slide, a "ready now" column, an emergency plan somebody clearly worked hard on. Fine. Good, even. Then someone at the far end (it's always the quiet one) asks what happens if the chair goes next quarter. Nobody says anything for a second. The chair makes a joke. Next item. I find that pause more revealing than any survey. Boards aren't careless about chair successi

There was a time — not so long ago — when the boardroom was, for all practical purposes, a finance club with a legal corner. The CFO was the undisputed strategic voice beside the CEO. The general counsel handled the paperwork. Everyone else was, essentially, operational. They delivered outcomes; they did not shape governance. That era is ending. And for those who pay close attention to how corporate power actually moves — board members, governance professionals, family busine

The ESG Recalibration Nobody Predicted Let us say something that might make a few people uncomfortable. ESG didn't fail. It grew up. And frankly, a lot of boardrooms haven't kept pace with that growth. That's the conversation we want to have today — not the one where we debate whether ESG is "real" or a Western imposition or a passing regulatory trend. That debate is over. What's happening now is something far more consequential and if you're sitting on a board, advising one,

The E.A. Sween Company, located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, serves as a compelling example of a private company that has transformed from humble beginnings into a national foodservice powerhouse, producing over 70 million sandwiches annually. If you have ever grabbed a quick bite from a convenience store cooler-a San Luis burrito, a Market Sandwich, or Deli Express-you have tasted one of their products. This family-owned business, founded in the late 1950s when Earl Sween res

The past three years have changed leadership more than the previous thirty. And anyone who has spent real time inside boardrooms—whether as a director, an advisor, or a C-suite leader—can feel it. The conversations are sharper. The expectations are heavier. The timelines are shorter. And the margin for error? Almost nonexistent. We often say that boardrooms don’t “react” to change—they absorb it. But lately, even that feels outdated. Today, change arrives too fast and too bro

Saïd Business School, University of Oxford is supporting the Directors' Institute – World Council of Directors to elevate the standards of corporate governance, ESG integration, and executive leadership across global boardrooms. This engagement is anchored in a shared purpose: to empower leaders with the knowledge, ethics, and decision-making agility required in today's complex and interconnected world. By combining the academic rigour of Oxford Saïd with Directors' Institute