A new company seems to get caught in the culture wars crossfire every week. (This week, it was Target’s turn.)
Fortunately, CEOs have boards to consult when their companies drift into troubled waters. The not-so-great news? Boards themselves are dealing with growing pains and internal conflicts that come with recruiting first-time directors from a range of backgrounds.
To be sure, boards are diversifying slowly, but the winds of change are still disruptive, ushering in a new generation of executives. As a result, board members might not only disagree on particular issues but sometimes do not speak a common language and value different communication styles. Meanwhile, new and veteran directors alike face an ever-growing list of complicated and politically fraught issues, from abortion and gun rights to digital privacy.
Seeing this, the National Association of Corporate Directors commissioned a report to shine a light on board culture. A select group of public and private directors is reviewing the cultural landscape of boards, intending to publish guidelines to help boards become more inclusive and effective.
Mary Winston, who sits on the boards of Chipotle, Northrop Grumman, TD Bank Group, and Acuity Brands, is cochair of the commission. Members are still deciding which governance subtopics to cover, but she imagines examining the onboarding process, for example, and exploring how boards can cultivate genuinely welcoming spaces for incoming directors, so they feel encouraged to provide input as soon as they arrive.
Winston recalls joining her first board 18 years ago. Though she arrived full of confidence about her abilities, she says, “All of a sudden, you're the new person on the block, and you're trying to understand the dynamics.” How much can you say? Where are the lines? “I was younger than everybody else. I was the only person of color, and it was an interesting environment,” she says.
Oscar Munoz, Winston’s cochair and a director at CBRE, Salesforce, TelevisaUnivision, and other companies, says he wants the report to help broaden board members’ perspectives and give them concrete tools to “develop their own philosophy on how they want to broach [divisive] issues in a safe environment.” It’s a skill that boards will have to perfect now that virtually any topic can trigger boycotts and other forms of activism.
On generational differences, Munoz says: “It's important for all of us who may be part of the more senior cohort on boards to remember that we were once that younger cohort.” That wave of directors, too, arrived full of vim and vigor and can recall “how it felt to be pushed to the side and told, ‘You need to learn a little bit more.’”
“I think both sides can reflect upon their own journey and how important it is to get the viewpoints of this new group because it is a contemporary viewpoint,” says Munoz, also the former CEO of United Airlines. ESG, he points out, didn’t exist when he first became a director; now, it’s a driver of consumer behavior and employee sentiment.
The Blue Ribbon Commission report will be out in September. See a full list of commission members here.
Lila MacLellan
lila.maclellan@fortune.com
@lilamaclellan
