International Directors Programme

First, there’s the learning. The programme gave me access to some core tools and frameworks to sharpen my critical thinking on corporate governance issues and hone my judgement skills. Second, I gained a lot from the sheer diversity of the group. My cohort of 30 participants came from more than 20 countries. We were a very broad mix, which led to a lot of sharing of knowledge and invaluable country-specific insights.

I like INSEAD. I’ve done Executive Education programmes there before and every time I return it’s like being given oxygen. Thanks to the programme, I changed my behaviour. Now I spend two-thirds of my time at board meetings listening and only one-third talking – asking the right questions.

It gave me access to some valuable frameworks to round out my professional development as a director. But the learnings were not just theoretical – rather, they were about taking real-life examples and working out how I’d apply them once back on the job. As a result, I gained some very beneficial insights and tools to aid my decision making processes.

Common to both programmes is the fact that they provide you with insights into best practice. They help you see what you are doing right but also what you need to do better. You get to see this surrounded by an international group of peers. You realise that ultimately we are all confronted with similar issues, and you learn to tackle them effectively.