Good to see a genuine society of professional board people

M. Middelboe

Board of Directors

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During some years now, there has been significantly increased focus and activity level on board member recruitments, educations and networks. One might almost say that a "board market" has emerged. It is of course positive with the establishment of an "eco-system" for stimulation of value creation in Danish board rooms and thus also the competitiveness of the Danish economy.

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However, I have also noted that the market place naturally has led to a continuous flow of creative business models, where companies build on profit based network activities and board educations.

Competition is strong with no shortage of cold canvassing with varying quality and different price offers for the same product from the same provider – some even offer education with a guaranteed board seat upon completion. I am not saying that the market lacks quality educations and networks, but transparency is yet low as to quality and price, and thus value for money.

Fortunately, a genuine society for board professionals surfaced as well in 2013, and I am pleased to be a member. The Board Leadership Society in Denmark is a non-profit membership organization with the mission to support systematic sharing of experiences from the supervisory boardrooms, develop new knowledge to enhance board member skills in both the private and public sector, as well as to improve framework conditions for state-of-the-art corporate governance and board leadership practices. It arranges meetings, seminars, conferences and virtual networks, which can facilitate the discussion of good corporate governance on a highly qualified level. The non-profit concept makes it possible to offer a personal membership including access to all activities for just DKK 1.000 a year. Thus, it is a very serious bet on a society of professional board people – not least including the close collaboration with our esteemed Copenhagen Business School.

More and more leaders choose and early and active board career

There are good news for companies, which are about to establish a board for the first time, or adjust the competence mix to actual or future challenges. More and more seasoned managers choose an active board career much earlier than the classical retirement career, like myself, even a full-time professional board career.

This makes as well sense for the managers themselves, as the trend on professionalization of board work means that the exciting discussions and decisions on value creation more often takes place in the supervisory boardroom.

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Membership program adding value to your board work

Thus, The Board Leadership Society is a pertinent initiative supporting the professional development of both seasoned and the many new active board members. There have been many good meetings of members during the past year, e.g. on recruitment and succession planning for board teams, value creation through team dynamics in the board work and risk management. This coming autumn the meeting program will among others focus on trends in international corporate governance, threats and opportunities related to IT development and industry disruption, value creation and generational handover in family owned and owner managed companies, as well as the board’s role in the strategy work.

As a full-time board professional and Executive Advisor, I see it as great advantage to participate in a network of board professionals to learn and share knowledge. The society counts 460 members, of which 43 are company memberships. Since the start in May 2013 19 meetings and conferences has taken place and more than 2.500 professionals have participated in the debate based on contributions from experienced chairmen and CEO:s, professors at home and abroad, as well as other key persons from the board environment. Personally, I can warmly recommend a membership, which is offered both organizations and individuals, if admission requirements are fulfilled, which secures an active high quality network.