Back to all insights

Is Culture on the Board’s agenda?

Despite all the corporate failures, we should spare some empathy for Boards. The complexities that they have to deal with, in relation to the time they actually spend in board meetings, are disproportionate. The matters they have to deal with, in conditions that increasingly resemble a fishbowl, are only snowballing and the rate of change is escalating faster than most can keep up with. Boards constantly live with a sword hanging over their heads. Will there be an ethical failure in this organisation that will hit the media headlines? How will it affect the Board and the Board members’ individual reputations?

However, our empathy can only stretch so far. Taking on a board position means taking on a fiduciary duty and thus an obligation to ensure that all aspects of the Board’s responsibilities have been attended to.

Continue reading...

more insights

When Ethics and Compliance Cast a Shadow

5 August 2026

Some topics are not easy to write about. Not because we do not know what our views are about them, but because we know how easily the views may be misunderstood—especially by those who prefer a version of pristine ethics and compliance that does not allow for shadows.
I know. Ethics and compliance shadows? That is where you land when you take the liberty—perhaps a little audaciously—of borrowing a concept from one discipline and applying it to another. I have borrowed from psychology and found the result illuminating enough to risk a few furrowed brows.

Read more >

Menopause Is a Leadership Issue

4 August 2026

Since it has become clear that organisations that are deliberate about ensuring diversity in leadership tend to be more successful, many organisations have been trying to strengthen the pipeline of women into senior leadership. They invest in development programmes targeting women, are intentional around targets and succession plans, as well as mentoring of women in the leadership pipeline. Then, just as many women reach the point at which their experience, judgement and influence are at their most valuable they hit a wall. A natural biological transition suddenly makes remaining at work considerably harder – and the organisation is often entirely unprepared for it.

Read more >

When Leadership Wounds the Conscience

30 June 2026

The last thing I expected that day was an apology. For a few seconds that felt like an eternity, I was at a loss for words. The young man sitting opposite me had just admitted that he had helped fabricate stories about me because his boss had instructed him to do so. I remember my anger. What I did not understand then was the injury he had suffered himself.

Read more >