Elephants in the boardroom
According to it Reputation Institute Four factors determine a CEO's reputation: leadership, influence, management and responsibility. Responsibility has been top priority for two years now. The same Reputation Institute recently indicated that their own research shows that CEOs are increasingly assessed on ethical criteria and less on optimizing profits.
This research therefore fits in with a list of recent publications that advocate entrepreneurship that goes beyond the focus on shareholders, as stated by the American Business Round Table is also being promoted, initiated by Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase.
Beautiful, inspiring ambitions that deserve to be successful. At the same time, it is interesting to see what the pitfalls are for CEOs and the top executives of the business community. After all, there are a number of topics that are not discussed in the boardroom, while they can be a pitfall for both reputation and successful operation. We call them “elephants in the boardroom”: you know they are there, but you act as if they are not.
These are social issues that are important to the various target groups and, in our opinion, should be on the agenda of the Board of Directors, Supervisory Board or Supervisory Board at least once a year (but preferably more often). Consider, for example:
- Integrity
- Diversity and inclusion
- Child labor
- Tax morale
- Equal pay for men and women
- Hierarchy and abuse of power
- Privacy
- Space for professional dissent and rethinking
It is just a selection of topics that deserve to be discussed regularly in the boardrooms. These are social issues that are crucial for the reputation of a company or organizations. Some issues have existed for years and have almost been resolved and others are still in full development. Today's society is no longer that of ten years ago. Employees, customers, investors, citizens, consumers and other stakeholders are placing increasingly higher demands on companies and organizations. Not just what you do but increasingly how you do it. A good Board of Directors or Advisory Board makes room for this on the agenda and in the boardroom.