Enabling Governance

The central theme of this 47^th issue of DLQ is Governance and how to manage and balance the tensions it creates. To operate a customer-oriented and employee-purposeful organization means loosening the reins of control to allow decisions and responsibility to be taken at the lowest possible levels. This does mean losing some control – but governance cannot and does not have to be relinquished with it.

This issue brings together a series of expert insights, research and perspectives around the governance dilemma that will broaden your understanding and thinking on this nuanced topic. Jonathan Day, CEO of Tapestry Networks, the global CEO network, brings his immense knowledge and experience to share an overview of the challenges of corporate governance in various jurisdictions. Roland Deiser, builds on this with his eco-system insight and the special mindset and approach operating in those requires.

Annika Steiber, the Director of the RenDanHeYi Silicon Valley Center, shares the RDHY model pioneered by the Chinese manufacturer Haier, that advocates against traditional top-down governance approaches, and promotes ‘zero distance’ ones. Prof Rob C Wolcott and Kaihan Kippendorf, of the Kellogg Innovation Network and Outthinker Network respectively, investigate the increasing power of ‘Proximity’ in the well-researched piece.

We cast our editorial net a little more widely in the pieces from the Director of the Smith Institute of Enterprise and Environment at Oxford University, Prof Mette Morsing, who sets out why senior leaders need to be more prominent in the journey to take their businesses to climate and environment friendly practices; while Piers Fallowfield-Cooper, shares his insights from many years of top-level executive coaching, to guide leaders on the path to ‘doing the right thing’ rather than just chasing the short-term wins.

Kate Lye, CEO of the Savoir Group, that advises major organizations, highlights the ‘six horsemen of executive performance’ – an important piece for all executives to read. The pitfalls and hurdles that senior leadership roles have to overcome are exhausting, and this piece is a really valuable reminder of the key areas to focus on.

Heather Cairns-Lee of IMD and Giulia Mereu deep dive on that crucial element of leading – high-stakes conversations; and Judy Flaschmann brings her years of experience developing and aligning the skills and energies of middle managers in her organization – a well-known public sector institution – and reflects on what works and needs to be promoted in the world of leadership development programmes and activities.

We hope our quarterly smorgasbord of leadership insights, reflections and ideas catalyses your thinking for the summer months.