Being Real About Governance

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/bl.30093
• Published date: 01 January 2018
• Author: Caroline Oliver
• Date: 01 January 2018

NUMBER 155, JAN.–FEB. 2018

www.boardleadershipnewsletter.com

Being Real About Governance

by Caroline Oliver

This article by Caroline Oliver, editor of Board Leadership, originally appeared in

our January/February 2016 issue. She suggests that better governance would be

served if we were more willing to face the limitations of our current understanding

and practice, and we think this article conveys how passionately she felt about

teaching and understanding the principles of governance. Here, she started the

process of challenging herself on these limitations, and asks you to do the same.

BOARD LEADERSHIP

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO GOVERNANCE

View this newsletter online at wileyonlinelibrary.com

Board Leadership • DOI: 10.1002/bl • Jan.–Feb. 2018

As someone who has taken a very

close interest in governance for

over twenty years, it seems to me

worth asking the question that every

child asks from the back seat of their

parents’ car on a long and winding

road: “Are we there yet?” Like a child,

I often ask the question in a rather

imperious and despairing voice (“For

heaven’s sake, can’t you lot in the

front seat get us there any faster than

this?”). And, like a child, maybe I don’t

understand, or take any responsibility

for, the realities of what it is going to

take to get us from A to B.

In this article, I try to start putting

that right for myself and hope that

you may come some or all of the way

with me. Please note that, through-

out this article, I am using the word

governance to denote the work of the

board.

Noble Aims

The first question to ask, of course,

is where are we trying to get to? I

suspect that the answer for all of us

is something along the lines of “gov-

ernance that enables organizations

to succeed.” A noble aim indeed, but

clearly one that begs at least two fur-

ther questions:

1. How should success for any

given organization be dened?

2. How can governance impact

success or failure?

How We Fall Short

Asking these two seemingly simple

questions reveals the fundamental

reality that we must face if we are to

be real about governance. For all the

increased research and focus on gov-

ernance since the very first report on

corporate governance,1 we still have

no agreement on the answers to the

most basic of questions.

On the question of how success

should be defined for any given orga-

nization, the legal framework in many

jurisdictions would say we must look

to “the best interests of the corpora-

tion.” As Tuvia Borok points out in

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Food For ThoughT .................. 2

News ..................................... 4

CaleNdar oF eveNTs ................ 6

(continued on page 2)

In Memoriam

It is with a heavy heart that we

announce that Caroline Oliver,

Board Leadership’s longtime editor,

passed away in January 2018.

Caroline had been involved with

Board Leadership since 2000—first

as a frequent contributor, then as

managing editor, and then as editor.

Her contributions to the field

of board governance as a whole

are significant and far-reaching.

In addition to her work on Board

Leadership, she ran the interna-

tional consulting firm Good to

Govern, served as CEO of the

International Policy Governance

Association and chair of the UK

Policy Governance Association, and

was a member of the international

Xylem Group partnership develop-

ing new approaches to organiza-

tional accountability.

Her published works and edito-

rials, her leadership in the develop-

ment of the British Governance

Standard, and her work with the

International Organization for Stan-

dardization will continue to have a

lasting impact on the world of board

governance for years to come.

The International Policy Gover-

nance Association has established

The Caroline Oliver Fund for a New

Vision, the proceeds of which the

IPGA Board board will strategically

designate toward the organization’s

research, learning, and advocacy

agenda, sustaining Caroline’s dream

and affirming her life’s life’s work.

If you would like to make a

donation to the fund, please visit

policygovernanceassociation.org/

caroline-oliver-fund.