ABSTRACT
That [balancing the Board] reinforces the role of the chairman as the most important key. When I was looking for my first Board roles I looked for a Chairman:
I could trust,
who took it seriously,
who had the right attitude towards the role of the Board in providing challenge to the executive, and
who had a good relationship with the CEO.
It’s so important to get the right Chairman if the NEDs and the Board are to work properly. The lack of an independent Chairman is why there are huge problems in the US, and I see it as a problem in a non-UK company I know: the Chairman is very sound but his dual role as CEO means that the Board operates in a very different way.