The Fourth Short Guide to Key Aspects of the Unlisted Board is now out!
A good Chairman was appreciated as a real asset by every interviewee that had one.
There are plenty of formal definitions of the role of the Chairman. However templates, no matter how worthy, are always cookie-cutter. Size, stage, phase, type of company, sector, personalities, country will mean that for the far-less-systematised unlisted Board no single recipe will be The Answer.
The realpolitik of the Boardroom is that it is all ultimately about who has power or in other terms control. Somewhere along the journey from NewCo to ListedCo the balance of power tips. Put simply in NewCo “the CEO fires the Chairman” whilst in ListedCo “the Chairman fires the CEO”.
The realpolitik of the day-to-day relationship between a CEO and their Chairman is far more nuanced and complex than simply “where, in extremis, do the votes lie?” and is centred on relationship, communication and influence.
After examining these aspects we take a look at key issues for founders recruiting a Chairman.
Check it out HERE – 13pp Powerpoint or PDF as you prefer.