2003-07-09

Preoccupation with board performance has grown over the last ten years and at an accelerating pace more recently, following revelations of both incompetence and misconduct in leading corporations and a number of non-profits, from Enron to War on Want. For cultural organisations, incompetent direction and leadership has been the main culprit rather than avarice. Faltering artistic vision, critical opprobrium, declining audiences, rash over-expansion or financial deficits do not happen over-night but are usually translated into the less judgemental language of external threats or operating challenges such as funding cuts, revenue declines and marketing failures.
Organisations rarely take a step back and look critically at the most senior leadership team the board and its chief executive and the value they can add or the potential they have for crippling the organisation.
For the most part, the responsibilities of these two positions can be formally separated and clearly differentiated. The board and the chief executive should be a team with complementary skills, committed to a common purpose and approach for which they hold themselves accountable.