Recorded at
London, United Kingdom
—
Speaking
What Boards Miss When They Agree Too Quickly
A practical look at how consensus forms in the boardroom, and what it hides when it forms too easily.
Event
Institute of Directors Annual Convention
Location
London, United Kingdom
Audience
Non-executive directors and board chairs
Format options
40-minute keynote, fireside chat, closed board session
Agreement feels like progress, which is why it is so rarely questioned. Drawing on two decades of board work, this talk shows how quick consensus conceals unexamined assumptions, and offers a small set of habits that make disagreement useful rather than uncomfortable.
The argument
Boards are built to converge. Time is short, papers are long, and dissent carries a social cost that is paid immediately while its benefit arrives much later. The result is a pattern that looks like alignment and behaves like avoidance: agreement reached before the assumptions underneath it have been stated out loud.
The session works through three real board discussions where agreement arrived within minutes, and traces what each one cost in the year that followed.
Making disagreement usable
The practical half is deliberately small: who speaks last, how a challenge is assigned rather than volunteered, and how a chair records a decision in a way that preserves the objection. These are procedural changes, not cultural ones, which is why they tend to survive contact with a real agenda. Related material sits in the governance writing.
Who it is for
Non-executive directors, board chairs, and committee secretaries. Chairs generally get the most from it, since most of the levers discussed sit with them. To discuss a closed board sitting, get in touch.
Book this talk
Bring this talk to your own room.
This session travels as a keynote, a longer workshop, a fireside, or a closed board sitting, adapted to the audience rather than repeated verbatim. Send the date and who will be in the room, and you’ll hear back directly within two working days.
Related talks
Recorded at
London, United Kingdom
—
Speaking
What Boards Miss When They Agree Too Quickly
A practical look at how consensus forms in the boardroom, and what it hides when it forms too easily.
Event
Institute of Directors Annual Convention
Location
London, United Kingdom
Audience
Non-executive directors and board chairs
Format options
40-minute keynote, fireside chat, closed board session
Agreement feels like progress, which is why it is so rarely questioned. Drawing on two decades of board work, this talk shows how quick consensus conceals unexamined assumptions, and offers a small set of habits that make disagreement useful rather than uncomfortable.
The argument
Boards are built to converge. Time is short, papers are long, and dissent carries a social cost that is paid immediately while its benefit arrives much later. The result is a pattern that looks like alignment and behaves like avoidance: agreement reached before the assumptions underneath it have been stated out loud.
The session works through three real board discussions where agreement arrived within minutes, and traces what each one cost in the year that followed.
Making disagreement usable
The practical half is deliberately small: who speaks last, how a challenge is assigned rather than volunteered, and how a chair records a decision in a way that preserves the objection. These are procedural changes, not cultural ones, which is why they tend to survive contact with a real agenda. Related material sits in the governance writing.
Who it is for
Non-executive directors, board chairs, and committee secretaries. Chairs generally get the most from it, since most of the levers discussed sit with them. To discuss a closed board sitting, get in touch.
Book this talk
Bring this talk to your own room.
This session travels as a keynote, a longer workshop, a fireside, or a closed board sitting, adapted to the audience rather than repeated verbatim. Send the date and who will be in the room, and you’ll hear back directly within two working days.