Devoting enough time to the things that really matter such as strategy and risk management and not getting bogged down by various compliances is important.
Forecasting and risk management from technology and business disruption point of view is most critical.
Boards are supposed to drive corporate governance, balance shareholder point of view while taking decisions, and also look at risk management from the governance point of view. The question is, how?
In case of global Boards, every year, at least one Board member travels to the country where the company has its operations and meets customers, etc. Does any Board member on any Indian Board even know what its customer looks like?
Character before competence is critical. Board members with the snazziest of CVs can't even squeak in front of a dominating chairman. It is these moments of truth that build the culture of the organisation
When a Board constitutes of independent members, is it really independent if the chairman invites people to join it? Shouldn't it be done through an independent process?
Boards have to change from just compliance to making organisations more competitive. Questions such as how I can pick the right person for the executive team or how do I create other foundation elements that constitute a company, should find cognisance with the Board
Till the basic structure of how directors get appointed to a Board is established, there will not be any control on it. Care should be taken that members should not be from the same industry, otherwise you may just get clones and not a diverse Board
To what extent the Board interacts with the auditors needs to be ascertained. The Board needs to fundamentally understand
one thing accounts is the responsibility of both, the management as well as the Board
I would like to recommend individual governance rather than corporate governance for Boards. If each one of us governs oneself in the right direction, Boards would be what we want them to be
Right Board for the right company is key. A Board should understand a company's strategy and also that if exchange of thoughts doesn't happen between members, it can never take the company towards a singular strategy
I think agility and continuity in Boards are interlinked. By agility, I mean the ability of the Board to switch gears based on a certain situation. When it should take the management's side and when it should advise a different path may decide the future of the company
I have a different view regarding industry knowledge. Companies these days hire CEOs who don't necessarily belong to that sector, so for a Board which is not involved in the day-to-day operations, it is important to have someone from the same industry
The evolution of the organisation and the category, both play a key role in the kind of Boards you need to have. The Board should ensure that acts of commission such as frauds, etc. don't happen
There is a generation gap between the Board and the nature of business they govern, so aligning the two is a big challenge
Lack of transparency is the biggest challenge. If someone doesn't want to tell you something, you will never figure it out
The law makes it mandatory for companies to put forward several key risks before the board. But is that really happening?
The Board should play a more active role in understanding the challenges faced by the healthcare industry. Because of various government initiatives here's a fear psychosis that is going on
The current regulations and liabilities as per me is the biggest challenge that Boards face today. It's extremely onerous and keeps many good people from joining boards
The distance that still remains between the Board and the CEO is an issue. The Board needs to be engaged more and should to be kept interested in the company
Enough time should be devoted to understanding the company well while keeping your eyes on governance at the same time
The ability to see what is coming next globally and locally is a big challenge as Boards mostly function in silos
How do you build a culture of innovation in an organisation and what can the Board do at that level is a key issue
If there cannot be a democracy of the board, where everybody at the table is looking at matters at the same level, then you start getting psychological complications
In MNC boards, there is far more direct questioning of the C-suite employees than in Indian companies. We are very gentle and less prone to be blunt about what we feel are C-suite failures
As Boards and business management evolve in the country, I would like my Directors to challenge the Board more often. 1 seek Directors who will challenge the Board
Governance, strategy, etc. are nice words. But the board assessment and independent directors' meeting are most critical. If you don't have these two for independent directors, we are not going in the right direction
The responsibility of the board is in setting the risk appetite. But if you go to most board members and ask them to spell out their risk appetite, there will be blank stares
As a board member, you can't be cooking strategy and also evaluating it. That role clarity is needed. Do you really want independent directors who are truly independent; who will exercise judgement, good or bad.
Non-executive members of a board are like migratory birds -they come once every three months. So, how do you get the best value out of them that the management has to think about?
The law is going overboard on the governance aspect. How much time do we have to spend on governance issues, versus critical strategic decisions for the business? And is the board focused on those issues?
The ambition and aspirations of promoters far exceed financial resources available, and they are typically averse to dilution of their equity Hake. This malady has caused enormous pain in the Indian economic system
Many companies are in crisis today. It's important to have a Board that appreciates the problems in the evolving environment of regulation and be able to suggest solutions that would require the com an to take hard decisions
The role of the board is to save the promoter from himself, and this is by defining the risk parameters. If the board is not able to do that, then you will see a lot of issues with companies