Board Views

Promoting a sense of responsibility is often seen as a benchmark for good corporate governance. The article argues for extending the discourse of responsibility to corporate citizenship and for understanding sustainability initiatives as innovation processes. The Board of Directors has a central role to play here, both in interpreting social change and in creating the conditions for successful implementation of social impact initiatives.

The contribution of the venture board to entrepreneurial value creation, and its pivotal role in venture ecosystems, is often overlooked despite a long history of venture governance. History teaches us six principles of excellence in venture governance.

Agility as a leadership principle has gained enormous importance in recent years. Many companies proclaim agility as a new leadership culture that is better aligned to future opportunities and challenges. At the same time, companies must adhere to corporate governance principles, some of which conflict with agility principles. This article presents considerations for improving the compatibility of agile leadership principles with the principles of effective corporate governance.

Mastering ecosystems is increasingly seen as key to strategic value creation in highly dynamic environments. The role of governance has become a key differentiator between organizations that win or lose from the ecosystem game. This article discusses the importance of governance to the successful creation, development, and growth of ecosystems and presents eight challenges to be addressed along the ecosystem lifecycle. It continues with a taxonomy of ecosystem governance that provides a menu of effective governance mechanisms to address these challenges. The article concludes with advice on how best to manage the transition from a corporate governance to an ecosystem governance focus.

Five years ago, I invited a number of thought leaders to reflect with me on the role of the board of directors in the face of digitalization. The result was a collection of twelve perspectives on the governance of digitalization (Hilb 2017). Where are we now, five years, one pandemic, and perceived thousands of articles on digital governance later?