In this podcast, Sharon Constançon, CEO of Genius Boards, describes company secretaries and governance professionals as wise owls in the boardroom who use their influencing skills to defuse tension and allow conversations to remain logical and constructive. Sharon highlights the power of the innocent question to cut through tension and explains how to negotiate successfully with warring parties to regain harmony. She argues that having a wise owl on the nominations committee can help achieve a more balanced board that is fit to address the modern agenda. Sharon also explains how to recognise and address bias in the boardroom and how doing so can help address infighting and groupthink.

In this podcast, James Beasley, Senior Director at Nasdaq Governance Solutions, discusses the concept of individual accountability, which was first developed in the financial services sector. James explains that to apply the concept an organisation will undergo a process of defining and communicating its senior individuals’ accountabilities. James considers whether the lessons learned in financial services from applying this regime could be extended to other sectors, arguing that outcomes such as a sense of responsibility coupled with a strong degree of clarity could be universally beneficial. James suggests practical steps that company secretaries or governance professionals and their boards can take to implement individual accountability at their organisation.

In this podcast Patrick Skinner, General Manager for UK and Europe at Atticus, discusses the importance of the verification process in ensuring that statements included in regulated documents such as annual reports aren’t misleading. Patrick highlights relevant regulatory considerations and discusses the risk of shareholder activism and reputational damage associated with making misleading statements. He also considers verification in the context of greenwashing risk and TCFD disclosure. He argues that automating verification can help combat the risk of human error in what can sometimes be a repetitive and tedious process.

In this podcast Susan Stenson, a partner at Independent Audit, discusses the impact that environment, social and governance (ESG) issues are having in the boardroom. She outlines the importance of linking these areas back to the overall purpose and strategy of the organisation to enable directors to understand which issues they should focus on and how they should communicate their approach to their stakeholders. Susan outlines how governance lays the foundations for a strong response to ESG issues from boards of directors. She also argues that if the board is honest about how it has decided its ESG priorities, its approach is much more likely to be successful.

This practical, interactive one‑day course gives current and aspiring Chairs the essential leadership skills, facilitation techniques and governance understanding needed to lead highly effective board, committee and executive meetings.

A one day virtual or face-to-face course on effective minute taking that offers a toolkit of skills which will boost your confidence in the writing and presenting of accurate minutes.

A one day virtual or face-to-face course on effective minute taking that offers a toolkit of skills which will boost your confidence in the writing and presenting of accurate minutes.

A one day virtual or face-to-face course on effective minute taking that offers a toolkit of skills which will boost your confidence in the writing and presenting of accurate minutes.

A one day virtual or face-to-face course on effective minute taking that offers a toolkit of skills which will boost your confidence in the writing and presenting of accurate minutes.