I became a member of ICAEW in 1984 and a CFO for the first time in 1992. Since then I have spent thousands of hours sitting in board meetings; as an executive director, NED, advisor and trainer. I have worked on and with corporate, public sector and not-for-profit boards and I sit on two boards today.
I have seen some of the best and, occasionally, worst cases of corporate governance practice in boardrooms across England. The worst examples I have witnessed include casual (and even overt) sexism and racism which is invariably excused as “banter”, and the unconscious or perhaps unthinking acts of bias which always seem to result in the same people speaking while others are ignored.
As an executive officer I saw these things, but I didn’t call them out either at the time or afterwards. How could I do that and not put my job at risk? How would that have helped anyone? This is how I justified my own (lack of) response, my own behaviour. But it made me uncomfortable then and it still does now.
With thousands of hours of boardroom experience, I don’t stand by anymore – I don’t need to. I speak out and up when I see behaviour that doesn’t sit well with me. But it shouldn’t need all that experience. Anyone, whether they have just joined a board or have been there for years, need to feel they can speak up. We are ambassadors and representatives for the businesses and organisations we serve – to our staff, our customers and suppliers and many other stakeholders. We have a duty to uphold the values that, on paper at least, our organisations espouse.
Since I became a professional coach in 2016, much of my time has been devoted to preparing our future leaders in the boardroom. I co-created a leadership programme with the aim of helping younger people get on to boards and overcome what is often regarded as an experiential deficit by board Chairs, recruiters and search executives.
The tallest barrier of entry to the boardroom is not gender, race, disability or any other such group - it is age. Specifically, it is age discrimination against young people who are perceived to lack the necessary experience to join a board. This reverse ageism is not only manifestly wrong, it makes no sense, commercially or in terms of meeting an organisation’s purpose.
Let’s take a business that sells health or beauty care products online to young people. Or a charity that helps youngsters who, for whatever reasons, haven’t attained basic educational qualifications get access to apprenticeships. How can the boards know if they are fulfilling their purpose if the voices of the people they are aiming to serve are never heard in the boardroom?
Similarly, in an age when technological change is perpetual (leaving aside the need to migrate whole workforces to remote working in a matter of days), as a board member if the CTO presented a new tech. strategy reliant on the latest apps and digital gizmos, I would feel much more comfortable knowing that my colleague seated next to me is a tech-savvy millennial or Gen-Z’er who can quiz the CTO more intelligently than I can.
Unlike accountancy, there is no mandatory qualification for board members; it follows that there should be no barriers to entry, whether overt or hidden. Some businesses and organisations now have imaginative board apprenticeship schemes or youth boards.
And if diversity and inclusion is a driver for the board, consciously seeking out younger recruits will almost certainly guarantee more diversity of presence, thoughts and views in the boardroom.
About the author
David is faculty member of ICAEW’s Academy of Professional Development and runs the board readiness for new and aspiring directors and the high-performing director programmes.
For more information about David, visit the website or email David directly.
