From the book
Insights
Selected articles adapted from The Director’s Craft. Practitioner perspectives on governance, board practice, and the real work of directors.
Adapted from Chapter 1
What Governance Is, and What It Is Not
Governance is not management. It is not compliance. It is not ethics. Three confusions that do real damage — and the two verbs that hold the answer.
8 min read
Adapted from Chapter 4
Does Governance Actually Pay?
The evidence, the qualifications, and the seventy-five per cent number that changed my thinking.
10 min read
Adapted from Chapter 20
What the Chair Actually Does
The most consequential role in the boardroom — and the role least visible from outside it.
7 min read
Adapted from Chapter 36
Governing Risk, Not Managing It
The board's job is not to eliminate risk. It is to ensure the company is taking the risks it has chosen to take.
8 min read
Adapted from Chapters 18–19
The Business of Board Composition
Independence is not a box to tick. It is a state of mind — and the codes know the difference.
6 min read
Adapted from Chapter 8
Ethics at the Top — The Smell Test
A British chairman's test for ethical questions is more demanding than it sounds. And more useful than every code of ethics ever written.
7 min read
Adapted from Chapters 16–17
The Director's Duties — What the Law Actually Requires
Three duties, enforceable in every jurisdiction. Ignorance is not a defence.
8 min read
Adapted from Chapters 22 and 53
The Audit Committee — Why It Is the Most Important Committee
The committee's chair is often the second most important person on the board. Here is why.
7 min read
Adapted from Chapter 28
Succession Planning — The Decision That Shapes a Decade
Emergency succession planning costs nothing. Not having one can cost millions.
7 min read
Adapted from Chapters 43–44
Financial Stewardship — The Board as Trustee, Not Accountant
A board that approves accounts it does not comprehend has, in a meaningful sense, abdicated.
8 min read
Adapted from Chapter 55
Whistleblowing — The Most Effective Fraud-Detection Tool
A mechanism that works is more effective than internal audit, external audit, or management review combined.
6 min read
Adapted from Chapters 41–42
ESG Reporting — What Directors Need to Know Now
CSRD, ISSB, double materiality — the reporting landscape is shifting fast. Here is what the board must prepare for.
9 min read
Adapted from Chapter 29
Crisis on the Board — The First 48 Hours
The first 48 hours are critical. What cannot wait, what can, and why the chair must slow the institution down to think.
7 min read
