It's worth remembering something boards sometimes forget: the board, collectively, manages precisely one person — the CEO. Everyone else in the organisation is the CEO's responsibility, not the board's. When directors lose sight of this, they either neglect the one relationship they're actually responsible for, or they reach past it and start managing staff who don't report to them.
Doing that one job well covers a lot: setting clear expectations for the CEO, giving honest and regular feedback (not just an awkward annual review), supporting them through hard stretches, and holding them accountable for results — fairly and without micromanaging how they get there. A CEO who knows where they stand with the board, and feels both supported and accountable, can lead the whole organisation with confidence.
A board that does this badly — vague expectations, feedback only when something's wrong, support that evaporates under pressure — gets a stressed, second-guessing CEO, and the whole organisation feels it.
You have one direct report. Be excellent at that one relationship.
How a board sets up and runs the CEO relationship well is covered across both courses.
Free tool: the CEO Performance Review framework.
Annie
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