The Better Boards Podcast Series

• Living with Uncertainty: The Importance of Transformation, Culture, and Talent

  Send us a textIn recent years, transformation skills have become increasingly important at the board level, with culture and talent rising high on the agenda. Yet, there’s still a noticeable absence of HR professionals in the boardroom. Why?In this episode of the Better Boards Podcast Series, Dr. Sabine Dembkowski speaks with Devyani P. Vaishampayan, Remco Chair and NED at Norman Broadbent Plc and Supply Chain Coordination Limited, and Independent NED on the Audit Board of ForvisMazars. Devyani is a Fellow at Chapter Zero and a Board Mentor with Critical Eye. She recently exited her AI Innovation Hub, having spent seven years advising corporates on AI, leadership, and the future of work. Before that, she was a global FTSE 30 CHRO with a 30-year career leading complex, multi-billion-dollar organisations.“It’s still quite rare to find HR professionals on the board… There’s a perception that HR lacks commercial acumen.”Devyani argues that HR leaders can earn their place at the board table by showing strong business insight—understanding financials, customer impact, and strategic goals. This may involve gaining broader experience outside HR or pursuing entrepreneurial ventures to deepen their perspective.“Everyone’s talking about AI, but very few realise how fast the change is happening.”Boards have always dealt with change, but today’s pace, especially with AI and geopolitical shifts, is unprecedented. AI adds speed to transformation and presents both opportunity and risk. Boards must understand their potential while managing risks like bias, data privacy, and employee trust. Devyani warns against overregulation and urges boards to take a more informed, proactive approach.“Boards need to lead more in culture and talent—and be hands-on.”According to Devyani, high-performing boards do three things well:Engage specialists in culture and transformation to support the executive team.Stay connected by engaging directly with employees—some boards spend two days in open forums to better understand workforce sentiment.Lead by example, especially board chairs, who should champion values and culture, not just delegate to the executive team.“Boards need to act as mentors to the executive team.”While some executives prefer boards to be hands-off, Devyani believes informed boards should act as sounding boards. Chairs can match board members with executives for mentoring, creating deeper support systems without overwhelming either side. Cross-committee conversations and subcommittees can also foster this dynamic.Top 3 Takeaways for effective boards:HR leaders—like CFOs—interact closely with boards and should use that access to build trust and position themselves for future board roles.Broaden your skill set. Go beyond your core function to become more valuable and board-ready.Get hands-on with AI. Understand its real-world implications for making informed decisions as a board member.Subscribe to the Better Boards Podcast Series on Apple, Spotify, or Google to stay informed.Want to participate or learn more about Better Boards’ solutions? Contact us at [email protected].

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• Future proofing the board with AI | Moya Hayhurst, Company Secretary

  Send us a textArtificial intelligence (AI) can revolutionise boardrooms in today's rapidly evolving business landscape. Still, this rapid change threatens to distance boards from the companies they serve if proper care is not taken in implementing both the technology and the governance around it.In this podcast, Dr. Sabine Dembkowski, Founder and Managing Partner of Better Boards, discusses how AI can revolutionise boardrooms with Moya Hayhurst, a Fellow of the Chartered Governance Institute with over 25 years of experience in corporate governance across multiple industries, including mining, financial services, and insurance. “If we go back to the beginning as to why boards were created, they're there to protect and drive the value of companies”Boards have a significant role to play in that discussion, but to lead the debate about future-proofing effectively, boards need to absorb and process a vast amount of information.  “The real value from AI and similar is about integrating into the ethos of the company and the core infrastructure, and whether we like it or not, whether executive boards, executive committees and such acknowledge it, the board is a key component of that”Moya is currently involved in a voluntary project with the Centre for AI in Board Effectiveness (CAIBE), which aims to get boards excited and engaged with AI as a tool for improving their effectiveness and the quality of their conversations. To Moya, in an ideal future state, board members and directors will be able to be more effective by having AI bring forward the data and information they need, when they need it, in easily digestible formats. “Some boards are further along than others"Moya realises this is a leap forward. It wasn't that long ago that boards were reticent to use board pack technology. They wanted their hard copies printed and couriered to wherever they were in the world, whereas now 90% of boards walk into a boardroom with an iPad. It’s an evolution in progress. “Through an interface like AI, you can bring the board back in alignment with the company”To Moya, what AI is surfacing is not that different skills are needed in the boardroom. The boardroom is already full of incredibly skilled people, but those people are struggling with the data coming at them, and thanks to the time it takes to prepare board papers, not all of that data is up to date. Backward-looking reporting is leading to missed opportunities.“AI is a toddler. They are excited, energetic, and bring such amazing potential, but they've got to have guardrails so that they grow up in the right way”Moya understands that boards have concerns about new technology tools and their security, as well as the protection of sensitive information. Fortunately, most organisations have a governance framework in place to strike a balance between responsibility and innovation. She thinks of AI as a toddler loaded with energy and potential but in desperate need of guidance and thoughtful training. The three top takeaways for effective boards from our conversation are:1.      Lean on governance professionals and IT professionals to help you investigate the technology and offer better intelligence for quicker decisions.2.     Don’t be hamstrung by perceived risk. Think through it carefully, and then quantify and manage the risk so that you can empower and engage your directors to really be at the forefront of your industry.3.    You must have a clear plan that understands the risk and governance frameworks of your organisation and its sensitive data, and that ensures your guardrails are in place. 

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• Cutting past the noise on the climate/energy transition | David Harris, Sustainable Finance Strategic Initiatives, London Stock Exchange Group

  Send us a textOver the last decade, climate and sustainability have become more of a focus for boards and sub-committees. However, there is currently a lot of conflicting noise around this agenda. So, there is a lot for boards to digest around this topic, making it an opportune time to take stock of where we are and what boards should consider.In this podcast, Dr. Sabine Dembkowski, Founder and Managing Partner of Better Boards, discusses climate/energy transition with David Harris, who has worked on these topics for over 20 years. He leads sustainable finance strategic initiatives at LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group), having previously led sustainable finance for two of its divisions:  FTSE Russell in its index business, and its Data and Analytics division.“20 years ago, this was regarded as quite a niche area. Today, that picture is completely different. It's one of the top issues for institutional investors.”The data backs him up. In FTSE Russell’s annual survey of global pension funds, they ask if the funds are integrating sustainability issues into their investment strategies. Among the largest and most sophisticated funds, those with over 10 billion dollars in assets under management, 86 per cent do. “Of the different sustainability themes, climate change and energy transition rank in our asset owner survey as being the very top priority.”Data from the International Energy Agency shows in 2024, annual investment into the energy sector was $3 trillion,  $2 that in 2024, annual investment in the energy sector was $3 trillion,  $2 trillion in clean energy, and $1 trillion in fossil fuels. In contrast, around five years ago, they were roughly on par at $1 trillion each. So, David says we are well into a substantial shift in the global economy, and boards and investors need to understand that.“I think there has been some surprise.. from boards at the level of reporting requirements coming at them.”Shifts of this magnitude come with many reporting requirements – requirements that have many boards less than thrilled. Some of the exasperation is at the newness of the requirements, and some is frustration with the scope. David feels this is a legitimate concern, as many boards find that keeping up with reporting can detract from focusing on the most material and relevant issues of running the business. “What's really important here is… sustainability standards are increasingly being set in a way which aligns them with the way companies are used to reporting on financial information.”The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation has set up the International Sustainability Standards Board, which may be familiar to many listeners. It aims to get global sustainability standards set up in a way that aligns with how companies are used to reporting on financial information and in a format that’s easier for the investor community to use. The three top takeaways for effective boards from our conversation are:1.      Don't get lost in all of the reporting regulations. Cut through that and focus on the material issues and what’s right for the business. 2.     Make sure you're engaging your investors, not only the sell-side analysts but also the institutional investors who sit behind them, i.e. the pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, as well as the asset managers and understand their priorities.3.     Build your expertise and lean on the resources available through Chapter Zero and similar networks.  

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• Employee representation on the board | Gabriele Bornemann, CEO Management Alliance

  Send us a textEmployee representation is a specific requirement for German boards, but global boards can learn from Germany. More and more boards have an employee representative, mostly a director, who brings employees’ perspectives back to the board. In this podcast, Dr Sabine Dembkowski, founder and managing partner of Better Boards, discusses employee representation on the board with Gabriele Bornemann, who wants to set new standards for qualification supervisory boards with her company Management Alliance. Before that, Gabriele worked in industry and finance for over 25 years. She was responsible for investor relations, M&A, risk management, and strategy.“We do not ALL like this option to have equal representation”Gabriele outlines the concept of labour representation at the board level in Germany – a unique approach shaped by the country’s two-tier corporate governance system. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon one-tier system, where the board has direct engagement with employees, German supervisory boards are legally required to remain independent and cannot interact directly with employees. “Profitability of the company as a whole is at stake”Gabriele accepts that labour representation on the board is not without its challenges. A key example is Volkswagen, where employee representatives hold significant influence over management decisions, and their primary concern is job security and maintaining production sites in Germany – but business realities demand a shift toward new markets. If changes in sales and procurement make Germany less viable as a production hub, the company must adapt, even if it means relocating operations.  With strong employee representation, these strategic shifts can become contentious, with decisions to prioritise national job security over global competitiveness.“Codetermination also has also a very positive impact on the structure of a company”Gabriele explains that the origins of codetermination in Germany are deeply rooted in history. Emerging after World War II, it was designed to safeguard labour rights in an evolving and increasingly competitive market. While it has its challenges, she knows that the system also brings clear advantages, especially in ensuring greater oversight within corporate governance structures.“It's very important that we have a strong chairman of the supervisory board”Gabriele believes that co-determination presents both opportunities and challenges. The key to making it work lies in how the different parties collaborate, the composition of the supervisory board, the role of the supervisory board's composition, and the chair's role. She advises that a strong chair is essential to balance perspectives and ensure discussions remain productive rather than divisive.The three top takeaways from our conversation are:1.      Co-determination in Germany makes sense because supervisory boards have no direct access to employees, and it is important to integrate the employee perspective into their work.2.     The weakness of codetermination is the lack of internationality in international business models.3.     A very strong supervisory board chair is important to consider the common strengths of both shareholder and employee representatives.

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• The Boardroom Tango: Where strategy meets execution | Carol Ouko-Misiko, Executive & NED

  Send us a textThe boardroom tango is where strategy meets execution, highlighting the dynamic dance between the board and executives in steering an organisation. But what does an executive have to do in order to really get the most out of non-executives?  How does this dance between the two work? How can it be influenced and improved?In this podcast, Dr Sabine Dembkowski, Founder and Managing Partner of Better Boards, discusses the boardroom tango with Carol Ouko-Misiko, who is Group Sustainability and Risk Executive for Old Mutual Plc East Africa, she oversees 11 business units in the financial services sector, domiciled in 4 countries in East Africa.   “If I had to choose, I'd rather be where the magic is happening”Carol starts by explaining that if she had to choose between executive and board member roles, she would always prefer the driver’s seat as an executive. Executives have the opportunity to take strategy and turn it into tangible outcomes, leading teams, navigating uncertainty, and shaping the future, and she believes that’s where the real impact happens.Reflecting on her early days on the board, one challenge stands out—curating information. Distilling complex information into clear, actionable insights takes effort and discipline; she initially struggled with this as an executive. “It's that delicate balance between a nose-in, hands-out approach”The relationship between the board and management is dynamic. The board actively participates in governance, approves strategy, and maintains a firm grip on its fiduciary responsibilities. This is often characterised as a "nose in, hands out" approach, with board members highly engaged in significant decisions, risk evaluation, and executive performance but must also avoid micromanaging daily operations. Their role is to govern, not to manage, placing trust in executives to execute strategy effectively.  “Do we have the meeting before the meeting? I think it's necessary, but it can't replace opportunities for us to face issues without the bias”For Carol, the meeting before the meeting is something she loves and hates - they feel counterintuitive. Yet, she has come to recognise their value because they provide an opportunity to break the ice, easing difficult conversations before they take place in a formal setting.  These informal discussions help build rapport, align perspectives, and create consensus, especially when sensitive topics are on the agenda. However, Carol remains cautious about their potential downsides because pre-meetings can undermine transparency, bypass formal governance protocols, and discourage open, rigorous debate if misused. If board members become too reliant on informal discussions, there is a risk that critical issues will not receive the full scrutiny they require. “You need to have a bit of thick skin and a sharp focus”Resilience and focus are essential for an executive to succeed in the boardroomFor an executive to succeed in the boardroom, resilience and focus are essential. Carol believes that executives must develop a thick skin and a sharp focus, but beyond that, they also need the ability to frame a compelling narrative. Rallying people around a vision or strategy is not just about presenting facts; it’s about storytelling. As non-executive board members are not involved in day-to-day operations, executives must articulate a clear, urgent case for action. A well-crafted narrative drives meaningful engagement and momentum.  “The most valuable input that a non-exec has done has been to engage” Carol recalls reading an article outlining the roles a non-executive board member can play. In her experience, the most valuable non-executi

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