Here's a misconception worth clearing up: having a conflict of interest isn't a governance failure. In a sector as connected as ours, directors will have overlapping relationships, roles and interests. That's normal. The failure is in how — or whether — those conflicts are declared and managed.
The danger isn't the conflict itself. It's the undeclared one, the "it didn't seem worth mentioning," the director who stays in the room for a vote they shouldn't. That's what erodes trust, invites scrutiny, and occasionally ends up in the press. And it's entirely preventable with a simple, consistently-used discipline.
A healthy board makes declaring conflicts routine and unremarkable — a standing agenda item, a live register, a clear process for stepping out of relevant decisions. When it's normal to declare, people declare. When it's awkward, things go quiet, and quiet is where the problems grow.
Good governance here isn't about having no conflicts. It's about having nothing hidden.
How to run conflicts of interest so they protect the board rather than threaten it is covered in What Every Board Director Needs to Know.
Explore the Board Director course
Free tool: the Conflict of Interest register & declaration.
Annie
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