PwC's "2024 Annual Corporate Directors Survey" (PwC’s key takeaways online here) of ~500 public company directors across industries reveals how board practices are evolving in response to changes in the macro environment and societal pressures in the context of efforts to remain focused on core oversight responsibilities.
Noteworthy findings include:
Board composition/diversity—Financial expertise and industry expertise lead many other enumerated skills and attributes in terms of planned additions to the board over the next 12 months, with 35% and 34% of respondents, respectively, selecting these areas of expertise over, e.g., gender diversity, cyber risk and AI expertise, international expertise, sustainability expertise, and other skills/attributes. (n=526)
A majority of respondents reported the addition of unique perspectives, improved board culture, enhanced board performance, and improved strategy/risk oversight as a result of increased diversity on their boards. However, just 40% reported enhanced company performance as a result of increased board diversity. (n=415-471)
Peer perceptions—Although 49% of respondents overall said that, in their opinion, at least one of their fellow directors should be replaced, respondents' bases for criticism of fellow directors are extremely noteworthy for what they do NOT include:
Board/director evaluations—58% of respondents said their board made changes in response to their most recent board/committee evaluation process— most commonly by adding additional expertise to the board, followed by changes to board committee composition. (n=497) Nearly three-quarters of respondents believe their board evaluation process is an effective tool to enhance board performance. (n=493)
Board priorities—Strategy led numerous other enumerated topics by a wide margin as to topics respondents believe their board should spend increased time on over the next 12 months, at 75%, followed by talent management at 52%. (n=496)
ESG—Two-thirds of respondents said that “ESG” means different things to different people generally, while just 42% said the term is understood consistently among directors on their boards and more than one-third (34%) said it has become a charged term and is no longer valuable. (n=469) While 55% of respondents say ESG issues are part of their board’s ERM discussions, less than half say ESG issues are regularly a part of their board’s agenda. (n=451)
Cybersecurity—Nearly two-thirds of respondents said their boards had increased the agenda time devoted to cybersecurity over the past 12 months and 42% of boards represented by respondents sought additional cybersecurity-related upskilling. (n=436)
The report includes PwC’s perspective on the survey results and suggested responsive board actions throughout.