Five Generations at Work

6Next Generation Boards

We need to ask better questions, as Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic reminds us in I, Human. However, asking better questions is only part of the solution. What we need in leadership discussions and in the boardroom is a diversity of perspectives and experiences to engage with those questions and come with pragmatic answers. While the needle is shifting, diversifying the shape of boards and leadership teams remains an ongoing challenge. And it will require a diversity of solutions. And so, we turn our focus in this chapter to a valuable platform that has quietly been gaining in traction and recognition – the next generation board.

‘Next generation boards’ are by no means brand new. These are Boards and Councils introduced and adopted by organisations looking to inject the insight and influence of a younger or cross-generational lens. Where the non-profit sector had started to embrace Youth Advisory Boards and Youth Councils, in the corporate world they were far from the norm. It was thanks to the transformative era of one of the most valuable luxury brands in the world, that the concept received a PR boost. That brand was Gucci, with the launch of their next generation board – The Shadow Comex – and we will go on to unpack the context and the case study.

The public endorsement of Gucci’s next generation board by its then CEO Marco Bizzarri, was important as we start to put into context the rise of these boards in the corporate world. Even where companies ...