DH Breakfast Event: Is your Board and Executive Leadership team Fit for the Future?

Yesterday morning we kicked off the first breakfast in our Disruptor’s Breakfast Series where we brought together a select group of people to have a frank conversation about disruption, innovation and transformation.

Each month we will tackle a different topic surrounding innovation in the corporate and commercial sphere and will invite a different group to join us in discussion.This morning’s focus was on Not for Profit (NFP) and Non Government organisations (NGOs) Board and Executive Leadership and whether these boards are Fit for the Future.

We were joined by a diverse group of 11 people representing 9 organisations, who were curious about the future of work and committed to supporting innovation readiness within their organisation. With a focus on the Not-For-Profit sector, the discussion delved into determining how organisations can get their board and leadership teams to be more aligned with change and innovation.

The diverse backgrounds of our guests allowed the issue of board effectiveness to be viewed from a variety of different perspectives, ultimately building upon the question of how you foster a culture of innovation within your organisation. The group addressed the issues of how to create a context and environment where people feel comfortable to pitch their ideas, with the backing of executives and CEOs. The discussion also highlighted the importance of internal communication channels to organisational boards as well as the importance of attracting the right people to participate on your boards.

Topics discussed included:

  • Risk Management
  • Governance vs Management
  • How do you attract the right people to your board?
  • How do you foster an environment and culture of innovation within your organisation, in order for people to feel comfortable to pitch their ideas?
  • Importance of internal communication channels in order to create and foster this culture
  • Creating a context for innovation, not just a space
  • New and emerging technologies that can change the innovation journeys of organisations

Our guests were also intrigued by our discussion on the emerging technologies that could impact any organisation’s innovation journey, such as bitcoin, Artificial Intelligence, 3D printing and more, alongside some innovation myth-busting. We are currently developing a Board Showcase on these technologies and we sought their interest in learning more about these technologies.

Finally we shared some of our early findings of the Disruptor’s Handbook Innovation Pulse survey, and our review of board effectiveness across the world. Did you know, for instance, that more diverse boards have higher innovation success rates?

Thank you to everyone who joined us this morning and shared their thoughts on this very relevant topic.

We will be hosting the Disruptor’s Breakfast series once a month until November 2018, if you would like to join us, please reach out to us.

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