The Handbook of Board Governance, 2nd Edition

35Strategic Blindspots in the Boardroom

Estelle Métayer

Principal and Founder, Competia

One of the hardest habits to develop in learning to drive a car is to watch your blindspots—the areas along the left and right peripheries of the car where you cannot see other cars alongside you. If you don't recall these blindspots and fail to “shoulder check” when changing lanes or turning, you put yourself and your car in jeopardy.

Blindspots are an apt metaphor for many kinds of misjudgments that companies—including their executives and board members—routinely make. These can be costly, leading to taking on risky ventures, missing out on new opportunities, incurring substantial financial losses, and even going out of business. Blackberry, Kodak, Blockbuster, Yahoo, Volkswagen, and Sears are all companies that have suffered or are suffering the consequences of blindspots.

How do sophisticated companies with highly experienced board members, executives, and consultants so dramatically miss the boat? How do they miss technological disruptions (e.g., Kodak), underestimate competitors (e.g., Blockbuster and Yahoo), or fail to adapt their business models to changing times (e.g., the media and newspaper industry at large; the hospitality industry facing Airbnb)? There are many reasons. Some blindspots are due to an organization's labyrinthine structure or flawed decision-making processes. Others may be self-inflicted, the result of an overblown ego, hubris, or mistaken self-confidence such ...