"What Directors Think" (page 16) from Corporate Board Member and Diligent Institute reveals the results of a survey of 300 US public company directors about upcoming challenges and opportunities in the context of ongoing domestic, geopolitical, and macroeconomic volatility.
Among the key takeaways:
Top priorities—Topping directors’ near-term board priorities are the core business objectives of revenue growth and increased profitability, as shown here:
ESG—Half of directors believe ESG is getting too much attention in the boardroom, while 43% say it is getting the proper amount (just 7% say too little).
Board composition—Directors ranked industry expertise and CEO/C-suite experience as the most critical attributes for their board’s next new directors. Notably, compared to 2013, industry experience remained the #1 desired attribute, whereas the desirability of CEO/C-suite experience has increased considerably over the past decade.
Three quarters of respondents are very confident in their fellow directors’ capabilities/skills/experience to serve on the board, just shy of the 88% of respondents who are very confident in their own abilities.
Board oversight—Directors identified cyber/data security and digital transformation/innovation/new technologies as the most challenging issues to oversee (of 14 enumerated issues and an “other” answer choice).
Corporate strategy—Looking at external factors with the potential to influence corporate strategy, at least half of directors expect federal reserve policy/interest rates and labor costs/availability to have significant impacts on their companies’ strategy in 2023-24. In contrast, relatively few directors expect environmental or natural disasters, COVID-19, or another public health crisis to have a significant impact.
Nearly two-thirds of directors expect their companies to focus on cost containment in 2023-24, far exceeding the likely focus on other strategies such as M&A, price increases, debt reduction, etc.
Respondents represented companies of all sizes and industries, committee representations, and board tenure.
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This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!