NACD’s 'Directorship' magazine articles
Recently published board-relevant perspectives
Deloitte leaders share insights on the challenging, emerging topics faced by today’s board members as published in NACD’s ‘Directorship’ magazine
Unlock value with PE portfolio company governance
January 2026
As competition for capital heats up, private equity leaders know that robust board governance is essential for realizing value in any portfolio company. The ability to align strategy, manage risk, and accelerate growth depends on how well private equity boards of directors work in concert with portfolio company management. This collaboration has become a critical differentiator as firms seek to drive performance and navigate continuous change. Portfolio company boards can take several practical steps to improve their effectiveness, which can help drive investment outcomes. Unlock the full set of actionable insights and leading practices for effective portfolio company board governance.
How ethical leadership can help protect organizations—and their boards
September 2025
Ethical lapses don’t happen in isolation—they can signal deeper failures of governance, culture, and oversight. When integrity is compromised, an organization can face significant consequences, including reputational damage, regulatory scrutiny, monetary penalties, lost market share, diminished stock prices, and more. By strengthening oversight of ethical leadership, the board of directors not only can help mitigate risks but also can uphold integrity across the organization—safeguarding its brand and reputation.
Thinking about the unthinkable: Crisis scenario planning and the board
January 2025
As boards contemplate the year ahead, they face a challenging risk environment. From technology to politics to climate change, there’s a seemingly constant emergence of new crises that are increasing in scope and complexity. For boards of directors, crisis scenario planning brings a sense of calm to the storm, anticipating and preparing them for potential crises that could impact operations, reputation, or financial condition, among other things.
Calculating the cost of CEO succession planning
June 2024
Succession planning is a frequent topic of boardroom conversation. But as the average CEO tenure has decreased and scrutiny of CEO pay has surged, the dialogue may take on a new level of urgency. Such discussions have many dimensions, including whether the next CEO should come from within or be recruited externally. We compiled information about 45 CEO transitions at S&P 500 companies from January 2022 to January 2024. The data reflect compensation details (base salary, target annual bonus, and the grant date fair value of “regular” annual equity awards) for both internal and external CEO hires. While the decision to promote from within or leverage external talent is specific to each company, our findings could be a starting point for boardroom conversations on succession strategy.
Current trends in governance
June 2024
While no one can know the future, there will always be risks that loom just beyond the horizon. With respect to governance, there are sundry forces that could be possible challenges—economic uncertainty, regulatory change, rapid technology advancement, geopolitical tensions, and political instability, to name a few. To some extent, these factors are likely to touch every industry with equal measure. But in some cases, the nature of the challenge to an organization’s governance may vary across industries
Artificial intelligence: An emerging oversight responsibility for audit committees?
January 2024
Businesses are rapidly expanding their use of generative AI, often in ways that can impact core business processes. This makes it critical for audit committees to understand the related challenges and opportunities and the governance and enterprise risks such technologies pose. This article from Deloitte published in the National Association of Corporate Directors’ 2024 Governance Outlook Report lays out potential use cases and offers questions for audit committees to consider in tackling AI oversight.
Boards and transformation initiatives: Strategy is just the beginning
Fall 2023
Company transformation initiatives take many forms and can include a variety of efforts related to mergers and acquisitions (M&A), restructuring, divestitures, and workforce redesigns. While these project categories have differing goals and time spans, they can affect large swaths of a company’s operations and result in organization-wide change. Regardless of form, the board plays a critical role throughout the life cycle of any transformation initiative, from setting strategy, to monitoring execution, and finally to evaluating results.
Board Governance Structures and ESG
Winter 2023
Companies are facing increasing pressure to manage a growing range of risks as a result of rapidly evolving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Climate-related factors have gained a great deal of attention among ESG matters, but the scope of ESG is much broader, including social aspects of a company’s relationships with its stakeholders and a growing demand for effective governance and transparency. How might boards adapt their governance structures to provide effective oversight in such a rapidly changing environmental and social landscape? What kinds of changes might boards make in the coming year?
Archived Editions
Christine Davine
