Is your board of directors ready for the future?

An effective board of directors does not merely rubber-stamp decisions; it questions them. The right skills, diversity on the board, and the courage to actively embrace change are crucial to a company’s long-term success.

Swiss boards of directors are under pressure. Not from the outside, not from regulators or investors. The pressure comes from within—from the growing gap between what a board could do and what it actually accomplishes.

99.7 percent of all Swiss companies are SMEs. They account for two-thirds of all jobs. And yet: 70 percent of their board members are 50 years old or older, the average term of office is over 8 years, and women make up just 20 percent of board members at SMEs.

What does this mean in practice? An effective board of directors asks questions that the CEO doesn’t ask himself. It demands options, not presentations. It thinks strategically where management is tied up in day-to-day operations. In short: It demonstrably makes the company better than it would be without it.

The reality is quite different. Too many meetings are merely informational sessions. Too many boards of directors recruit from their own networks, thereby reinforcing the very homogeneity they are supposed to overcome. And too many business owners confuse a harmonious board of directors with an effective one.

Harmony resulting from good cooperation is valuable. Harmony as a goal is a risk. Anyone who has no one on the board to ask uncomfortable questions does not have a board of directors. They have a rubber-stamp committee.

Added to this is digitalization. The percentage of SMEs already using artificial intelligence has risen from 22 to 34 percent in just one year. Only 17 percent of companies systematically monitor the results. This is precisely where a leadership gap exists that the board of directors must close—not by writing code themselves, but by asking the right questions and bringing the right people onto the board.

«If you don't have anyone on the board of directors who asks tough questions, you don't have a board of directors. You have a rubber-stamp committee.»

My recommendation to every board of directors: Conduct an honest competency assessment. Not for the annual report. For your own sake. What three competencies is the board lacking to shape the next five years? And then act on that, even if it means replacing someone after a long journey together.

The board of directors is not an end in itself. It serves the company and its stakeholders. Anyone who has truly internalized this knows what needs to be done.