The Society and Spencer Stuart are pleased to share new insights building on our joint October 2025 roundtable, “Elevating Your Partnership with the Board for Greater Strategic Impact” and associated member benchmarking.
As boards face increasing pressure to deliver long-term value and respond to evolving risks, expectations for corporate secretaries are expanding beyond process and compliance toward strategic partnership. Insights from nearly 200 Society members highlight gaps between where governance leaders believe they can add the most value and where they are currently most involved.
The findings point to two key areas of opportunity—board succession planning and board performance assessments—both widely identified as areas that would benefit from greater corporate secretary involvement, yet where relatively few report playing a partnership role. Building on themes from the October program and the previously released Key Takeaways, the findings indicate the need for more proactive engagement: supporting a forward-looking approach to board composition and enabling assessments that translate into actionable outcomes.
Members also identified strategic advisory skills as the most critical capability for strengthening board partnership, alongside governance expertise and communication—reinforcing earlier discussion themes around expanding influence and building credibility as a trusted advisor.
Access additional resources on our Corporate Secretary’s Office page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!