CHAPTER 6 Foundations of leadership
‘Give me a firm place on which to stand and I will move the world.'
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The influence of upbringing
Imagine this for a moment.
You are enjoying your first board appointment, the first woman on the board, among a dozen men. You are keen to do the right thing in every sense: governance, strategy, financial … Your reputation for sound judgement and commercial insight precedes you and contributed to your appointment.
Before long it becomes apparent, however, that your probing questions are not welcome. The board gangs up on you a little, implying that your concerns about the power of the CEO and his relationship to the board are ill considered and demonstrate a lack of understanding about how things work. You can see that the board is failing to ask all the right and relevant questions. While the rest of the board settles back in its complacency you become more uncomfortable.
What will you do?
- Challenge the board and risk your position?
- Stay silent until you perhaps do understand things a bit better?
- Resign from the board because of a fundamental conflict of values?
- Speak out and expose yourself to an unwelcome gender conflict with the old boys' club?
Take a moment to think deeply about your answer. And while you are doing so, consider this situation.
Years later you are Chair of a bank's Remuneration Committee, responsible for signing off on executive bonuses and pay. The very well paid CEO is in line for a bonus of about fourteen million ...
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