Is chairing a company's board like conducting an orchestra?

Organised by the Leadership Forum, which also does Boss of the Year, it consisted of a day's intense programme where the order of the day was self-examination and listening and sharing with people who hold the same responsibilities and may have had similar or dissimilar experiences.

Described as a "neuron-stretching" event, chairmen come face-to-face with the realities of the current leadership landscape. Just like a conductor has to deliver the best music to the audience without playing any of the instruments, many chairmen need to see a company's strategy delivered without having any executive role.

Competing on value or values?

One of the hot debates of the day, says Ana-Maria Valente, convener of the Leadership Forum summits, was the issue of leading a board that needs to resolve whether the company is competing with others on value or values.

Says Valente, "It was gratifying to note that the chairmen agreed that creating value without a values-base does not make for a sustainable business model. They asked themselves, though, how many companies do follow triple bottomline?

"The benefit of the Summit methodology is that the participants debate not only the practical issues and solutions but have occasion to introspect and look at some questions from a philosophical stance. As such they get to assess the merits of their beliefs as well as the degree to which the belief is applicable in reality or appropriate."

Some of the challenges aired were that:

• the board-leadership talent pool is currently too small in the country, particularly with regard to more black chairmen and women; this is driving up remuneration for that limited pool
• increasing regulatory issues is leading to more emphasis on conformance rather than performance, resulting in decreasing emphasis on strategy
• an increasing challenge is to get black 'independent' directors, a potential conflict of interest as they belong to so many boards
• the changing role of chairmen is due to the increasing rate of change - the role is both broadening and deepening
• increasing globalisation is a growing concern for chairmen with regards to competing successfully

They also raised the issues of the impact of the information explosion and the pace of technology development; how, and who "appoints" board members; conformance versus performance; how long a chairman should serve; the role of the chairman on the inside, and the non-executive chairman; the symbiotic self-fulfilling relationships between chairman and executives; succession planning; and the need to create a different organisation in South Africa - one that truly embraces transformation.

The current media coverage of the matters Kebble and Zuma were aired, and the impact or influence it may have on corporate society and tomorrow's leaders.

In conclusion, the group felt a chairman also needs to be a bit of a psychologist and be alert and sensitive to the behaviour of the members of the board, provide mentoring and coaching but also raise the bar of participation and input. They also stressed the importance of the quality of the information that comes through to the board, to ensure all understand the business case, and the potential risks.