“If you want to stay at the cutting edge of global governance, elevate yourself above the pack and give yourself that next big lift, then I think the INSEAD International Directors’ Programme is absolutely the way to go.”
It was 25 September 2000 at the Olympic Games in Sydney when Australian track and field athlete Cathy Freeman crossed the finish line to win the gold medal in the 400-metre race. The nation celebrated, but in the afterglow of her victory, two women began to question the status quo: Why were women excelling in sport but still under-represented on sports boards? And what could be done to change this?
Six years from this conversation, these two women founded Women on Boards (WOB) to help not only female athletes, but women from all walks of life to reach leadership and board positions. The organisation has grown exponentially over the years, opening in the UK in 2012, partnering with INSEAD’s International Directors Programme (IDP) in 2017 and continuously enhancing its suite of support for aspiring leaders.
We speak to co-founder and executive director, Claire Braund about how she’s seen the landscape evolve and why she believes the IDP can propel women to leadership success.
How has the board landscape changed over the last 18 years?
When we started, the challenge was getting women on the radar of those who held the gift of board roles in their hands. It was about how to turn off the spotlight and turn on the floodlights, open up the boardroom to different people who could lay claim to those roles as they had the skills and experience— but they just weren’t being asked.
The challenges women now face are much more complex as recruiters are looking for very specific skills. You need to really understand the role of a director and know about things like generative AI, ESG and cyber issues. The barriers are around knowledge, training and cultural perspective.
What are the qualities that leaders or board members of the future need?
There’s a strong recognition that you need diversity of thoughts, opinions and experiences!
I believe boards with groupthink have gone well past their use-by date. In contrast, boards where everybody thinks quite differently but manages to work together to harness a collective way forward will actually be successful.
Tell us about WOB’s partnership with INSEAD. What motivated it?
It was a natural fit as we have organisations in both the northern and southern hemisphere. Also, the fact that INSEAD’s International Directors Programme focuses on global governance—really high-level, non-jurisdictional governance particularly appealed to us.
All countries have their own jurisdictional governance programmes. For instance, here we have the Governance Institute of Australia, and there is the equivalent in the UK, New Zealand and Singapore. But the IDP in a way sits above that. It operates at a level that enables you to be a director in any space.
Why is the emphasis on non-jurisdictional governance important?
I believe that having that overarching international focus—particularly in an increasingly globally connected world, is something of enormous value.
There are a lot of organisations both big and small grappling with the global changes of a connected world. Directors need to have the skills to “float” over it and assess what the organisation needs to grow.
How have you seen WOB members benefit from the IDP?
The IDP picks up people who already have skills, experience and capabilities, and are quite often operating at a very senior level, and it elevates them to the next level.
We’ve seen women who have completed the programme bounce to a higher level when it comes to thinking about strategy and having big discussions within a boardroom. That’s why I believe the programme is particularly powerful.
What about the IDP empowering women to reach the next level?
The first is high value coursework and access to world-leading researchers on topics like strategy, decision science, boardroom dynamics and board processes. The second is the focus on corporate governance rather than legal requirements in a single jurisdiction.
In addition, participants find the opportunity to participate in a 360-degree feedback process with live simulations extremely valuable, and testify that the programme is helpful for helping them assess if they want to pursue a board career or stay as an executive.
Finally, they find benefits in attending a programme outside of Australia and being able to access networks at global and regional levels. In fact, a board member on WOB shared that the network of INSEAD alumni in Melbourne and Sydney is absolutely amazing. They are always available and willing to help!
Who would you recommend take on the IDP?
The IDP programme is fantastic for executives looking to understand global governance, or who report to boards. It’s great for anyone who wants to understand how to govern better.
It’s also great for emerging non-executive directors, people moving into a portfolio career, people who have done jurisdictional governance programmes within their own country and are looking to do more, and people who are serving on international boards.
Reflecting on WOB’s journey over the last 18 years what are the organisation’s aims for the future?
I believe if you want to make the world a better place, you often need to change the composition of who are in those key decision-making roles.
Our purpose has always been to see 40 per cent of board roles and 40 per cent of leadership roles across all sectors of society to be occupied by women. But our aim was never to replace the old “white man's club” with the new “white woman’s club”.
We would like to see a diversity of ethnicities, cultures, ages, backgrounds, on boards too, because organisations need to reflect their stakeholders, customers, and communities they serve. I hope that in our own humble way, we manage to do that and make some contribution to global governance.
Featured Programme
