Young directors rising...

A very interesting article appeared over at law.com this week. The author, Catherine Dunn, asked whether governance boards are prepared for the rising tide of young directors (particularly those from the ranks of the so-called "Millennials"). Ms Dunn noted that younger people think differently, have different motivations, and ask different types of questions (than older people).

Dunn's article provided a deja vu moment for me—because over the past six months I've been asking established directors and CEOs what they think about the appointment of young directors to Boards. The response to my informal survey? Generally, the people I spoke with said that calls for younger directors need to be carefully tempered with the need to retain experience. Every time an older director is replaced by a young director, 20–30+ years of experience is removed from the discussion and decision-making process (the wise old head).

So, it is good to have the vitality of youth and the good questions they ask, but this needs to be balanced with the retention of experience. A balance which is difficult to achieve in my view! How can this be best achieved?