What Does it Take to Keep a Company Alive and Well for Decades?

Innovation and entrepreneurial ideas help birth businesses in many areas and industries. Yet, to achieve sustainability, organizations need human intelligence in management and governance to keep a strong logo alive and valued.  

New expectations and technological advancement have created opportunities and shifts for business management and corporate governance. Managers and boards now require new tech skills to direct their organizations on embracing and leveraging technology.  Nevertheless, human intelligence and experience remain the main driving force of businesses.  

To this end, organizations have to get it right. An organization that intends to reach its peak must ensure its executive team and board collaborate and constantly perform at their best. This is the only way to continue achieving corporate goals and objectives while ensuring sustainability and consistency.  

With 42 years under its belt, BoardWise believes wisdom is the answer to long-term success. BoardWise helps businesses bring wisdom to management and corporate governance and assists executives and board members. The company helps them learn to manage, lead, and govern better. With clients in more than 53 countries, BoardWise understands the best practices that fit with cultural and regulatory perspectives. 

Dr. Donna Hamlin, founder and CEO of BoardWise, says the company’s expertise deliberately cuts across management and governance services. Its management insight allows boards and executives to discover creative solutions for strategy, marketing, executive coaching, etc.  

In governance, BoardWise guides its clients based on effective governance practices, qualifies and certifies candidates for director roles, educates on governance topics and updates, and conducts independent board evaluations. 

“BoardWise believes wisdom requires the application of intelligence and experience. Our ability to see clients’ business development goals as our responsibility propels us toward success. We believe in collaboration because it helps us work well with others and leverage relationships. We understand the global work environment is greatly impacted by advancing technology, which has ushered in a new era. We ensure to stay ahead by applying modern techniques that will help clients achieve organizational goals,” she says. 

Nola Masterson, a BoardWise Partner whose expertise spans 40 years of investment experience as a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, believes a non-performing CEO is a challenge to face. “Boards need help when they lose confidence in their CEO because once they become non-performing, the board must implement an exit plan that avoids any further leadership missteps.” Masterson assists BoardWise clients by adding a board member who focuses on finding a replacement CEO and facilitating a graceful transition. 

BoardWise Partner Marilyn Nagel’s area of expertise is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (as well as a portion of ESG) and their effects on culture, innovation, and productivity.  

“Our focus is on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, Human Capital Management, and ESG. These are priorities because they are foundational to corporate sustainability, success, and economic prosperity. For example, a client of ours was an international healthcare company that got negative feedback on an engagement survey from women at the director and VP levels. These women voiced concern about believing their input mattered, they perceived there were additional hurdles blocking their advancement in contrast to their male counterparts. To understand the extent of this cultural issue, we conducted listening sessions with senior-level women and 1:1 interviews with the CEO, President, and senior leaders. We analyzed time to promotion, hiring, and attrition by gender. We prepared an executive summary as well as recommendations. Since then, every leadership team member developed an accountability plan to increase inclusion for everyone in their function that is now reported semiannually to the CEO,” Nagel explains. 

BoardWise Partner Jen McClure focuses on ethics for digital governance and tech. Recently, she digitally transformed a fourth-generation family-owned media company to position them for sale. It resulted in four potential acquisition opportunities. She believes AI will transform business, culture, and society. According to her, boards must have the knowledge, expertise, and framework to focus on this transformation and the associated opportunities and risks. 

Partner Brian Barnier, an expert in financial risk management, AI, cybersecurity, and decision science, says that industrial-strength design thinking allows BoardWise to save millions in wasted funds and solve ethical problems more efficiently for clients.  

Fred van Eenennaam, BoardWise’s expert on global governance and European management, tackles complex business challenges. He says, “The most adaptable firms will win because every company is a tech company these days!”  

Business change is constant, making alignment in strategy, innovation, talent, finances, and stakeholders vital for achieving success. Organizations must learn to juggle these responsibilities while meeting compliance and risk management. BoardWise works with executives to inspire sustained value creation for companies in a world of emerging delivery models, tech deployment, geopolitical pressures, and societal and institutional change. All this takes adaptability skills. 

Companies must pair these adaptability skills with effective governance strategies, especially when working internationally. When different countries, cultures, and legal and government systems play a role, using a broad perspective becomes key for a board and executive teams’ overall success. 

BoardWise aims to continue offering organizations cutting-edge C-suite and boardroom members and corporate assistance that creates a long arc of success. The company will keep providing critical research resources and insights that help achieve corporate targets, meet organizational goals, and reach significant milestones for sustainable growth.