Deloitte’s “Director skills for navigating a complex business environment” reveals director skills data from SEC filings (sourced from ISS Corporate Solutions) for the Fortune 100 to help inform board refreshment strategies.
Among the key takeaways:
Overall prevalence - A majority of directors have leadership, finance, and international skills (90%, 79%, and 63%, respectively). Comparatively, less than 40% of directors have human resources, information security, and M&A skills (38%, 31%, and 20% respectively).
Skill set variations by role - Lead directors are much more likely than board chairs and CEOs to have finance and audit skills; whereas board chairs are much more likely than lead directors and CEOs to have international business skills. CEOs, on the other hand, are more likely than lead directors and board chairs to have industry and strategic planning skills.
Furthermore, combined CEO chairs are significantly more likely than other board leaders to have industry-specific skills (98% vs. 61% respectively), strategic planning skills (79% vs. 57%, respectively), and technology skills (70% vs. 48%, respectively).
Board leadership - Directors with additional leadership responsibilities are more likely to have previous CEO experience than directors with no additional leadership responsibilities (82% vs. 56%, respectively).
Committee leadership - By key committee, among other things, finance and audit skills are most prevalent among audit committee chairs; operations and human resources skills are most prevalent among compensation committee chairs; and strategic planning and legal skills are most prevalent among nominating / governance committee chairs. (The table on page 6 also shows the prevalence of these and other skill sets among committee members.)
New vs., incumbent directors – New directors are more likely to have risk management and international business skills, whereas incumbent directors are more likely to have legal and human resources skills.
The report suggests ways in which to integrate the learnings into the board’s refreshment strategy.