PRESS RELEASES

Boards of the future – Global Survey 2018 results: How Boards Take Charge of the Future

STAFFORDSHIRE, UK, September 12, 2018 – InterSearch Worldwide and Board Network – The Danish Professional Directors Association have jointly launched an Annual Board Survey among 1000+ Board Members from 55 countries globally. Diversity of respondents include 77% men & 23% women from every imaginable industry, all sizes of companies up to USD 20+ Billion per year and all kinds of ownership structures.

Results clearly show that Boards have embraced a clear attitude towards change, starting from considering “Innovation,” “Digitalization,” “Sales and Customers” as much higher priorities for the future rather than “Audit & Tax” and “Remuneration & Nomination.”

On the same wave, “Disruptive & exponential technologies” is undoubtedly the megatrend – seen by more than 78% as one of the top 3 trends.

When it comes to predicting company’s financial future in the next 24 months, boards across the globe are very optimistic. More than 75% expect the next 2 years to show a better financial development compared to the previous 2 years.

Boards are no longer just expecting the challenges of tomorrow to be identical to those of yesterday: a comparison between challenges in the previous 24 months and the coming 24 months; respondents expect 50% of future challenges to be lead by different Product and/or Business Model innovations.

When asked to name one competency they would like to add to the existing board, “IT / Digitalization” wins again with 24%. “Innovation / R&D” comes second, and “Customer/consumer orientation and understanding” is highlighted as a megatrend in third place by the global survey results.

A hot topic of Board rooms today; the survey analyzed whether the increasing focus on Board Diversity had an effect on how boards are composed, as well as what kind of diversity has been sought to add to the board. 73% of women respondents personally support gender quotas to improve the gender balance in the boardroom compared to 31% of men surveyed.

Compared to 20% of last year’s survey, this year 25% think that their board’s performance could improve; suggesting potential drivers to improve performance would be “Better understanding of the company’s position and strategy” and “More effective mix of competencies on the board.”

Click here to view the whole report

About InterSearch Worldwide

Established in 1989, InterSearch is ranked as one of the top international executive search organizations in the world. InterSearch has over 90 offices in 50+ countries, enabling clients to have access to almost anywhere and anyone across the globe.

Contact:
Carla Calvo
Operations & Communication
c.calvo@intersearch.org