Nasdaq released its 3rd Annual Global Governance Pulse survey report, based on a November–December 2025 survey of 701 board members, CEOs, executives, and governance professionals across organizations, industries, and regions (76% Americas), capturing perspectives on current corporate governance practices and priorities shaping the year ahead.
Among the noteworthy takeaways:
Board meeting practices—Survey findings highlight opportunities to enhance certain board administration practices, with 22% of respondents holding preparation sessions prior to meetings and 42% reporting a formal process for documenting and monitoring action items.
Current meeting and engagement practices are as follows:
Board materials—Only 22% of respondents indicate that their board materials do not need improvement, with the majority of respondents identifying opportunities such as including executive summaries, distributing materials further in advance, and providing more forward-looking, concise, and dynamic materials, as shown here:
Board succession planning practices—Just 36% of respondents indicate that their board succession planning process is effective and well-suited to their board, while others identify practices that could strengthen their processes, most commonly developing prioritized characteristics or competencies (61%), establishing committee membership or chair rotation policies (32%), and establishing a formal onboarding plan for new directors (30%).
Board composition—AI and machine learning is the most frequently cited area of expertise to enhance board composition (45%), followed by technology and innovation (32%), and strategic development and execution and industry experience (29% each). Sustainability, environment, and climate (6%) and product development and research and international operations and supply chain (7% each) are selected much less frequently.
Board evaluations—Among respondents whose boards conduct evaluations, questionnaires remain the most common method to elicit feedback from directors (86%), while 38% report conducting individual interviews with directors. Additionally, 22% use questionnaires to obtain feedback from management and 14% conduct interviews with management.
Annual full board evaluations are most prevalent (85%), followed by annual committee evaluations (45%), while 27% report annual individual director evaluations.
Education—AI and machine learning is the top priority for board education (50%), followed by cybersecurity and data privacy (35%) and industry trends (31%). Corporate governance (22%), technology and innovation (21%), and risk management (21%) round out the top six.
Additional coverage includes AI adoption and oversight, board portal software and AI-enabled capabilities, CEO and management succession planning, board–management engagement, and strategic and risk priorities.
Access additional resources on our Board Practices page.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!