Good things take time, sometimes a very long time

We live in a fast-paced world, where the only constant seems to be change itself. Nine months ago, messages promoting the latest and greatest scheme (or product or idea) bombarded our senses daily, imploring us to embrace something better. Hope prevailed. Now, with the outbreak and impact of coronavirus, the situation is quite different.

Despite the ebbing and flowing of seasons and circumstances, even the onset of crises, some things remain remarkably constant; stable despite great turbulence and the best intentions of enthusiastic advocates to move things along. The corporate boardroom is one such example.

Earlier this year, during the early days of the coronavirus, I re-read Making it Happen, Sir John Harvey-Jones' reflections on leadership. Harvey-Jones, a successful businessman and industrialist, was perhaps best known for leadership of British firm ICI, culminating in his chairmanship from 1982 to 1987. His insights are timeless; arguably still relevant today, 32 years after they were first written. To illustrate the point, here is a selection of salient comments Harvey-Jones made about boards in 1988:

• Many boards are unclear as to whether they are merely a coordinating committee, or whether their primary responsibility is to intentionally make decisions to take the company into the future.
• Board members are often chosen from amongst the most successful executives. But governance is different from management.
• Many incumbent board members assume that new appointees will 'pick it up as they go along'.
• Boards do not easily set for themselves the sort of criteria of success that they unhesitatingly apply to every other part of the business. Unless a board continuously reviews and criticises the way it is working, it is extraordinarily difficult for it to improve its performance.
• It is important not to go in to a meeting without some clarity as to what you are expecting to achieve. If you attend because the meeting has been called, with little personal aim, you should ask yourself why you are going at all (to the extent of asking why you should continue as a board member).
• It is perfectly possible for boards of directors to meet regularly and never discuss any creative business at all—a "severe abnegation" of both personal and collective responsibility according to Harvey-Jones.

Do any of these points sound familiar? They probably do, because, sadly, many of Harvey-Jones' observations are still prevalent today. Given the duties of directors, why are some boards still reluctant to embrace change with the same enthusiasm as demonstrated elsewhere when circumstances change, or a crisis strikes?

Is it time your board took stock, not only of the company's business model, but of itself?

An earlier version of this muse was posted in 2014.