As the role of the board has expanded, so has the need for continuing development for corporate directors. The Directors Development Program (DDP) is a unique approach to give board members both a curriculum and a community in which they can learn and share best practices. Egon Zehnder partnered with Harvard Business Publishing to develop the program, and what follows are key insights from the 2023 DDP insights.

One of the sessions of Egon Zehnder’s Directors Program looked at the “Fundamentals of Corporate Governance,” examining a broad set of recommendations and challenges for board directors to consider as they strive to build an effective organization.

Boards hardly succeed by accident. In fact, it takes intentional efforts to construct a consistently high-performing board. This was one of the key takeaways from a recent session of Egon Zehnder’s Directors Development Program which delved into how to build a high-performing board.

A healthy board of directors requires that each member be in top contributing condition. As part of the Directors Development Program, Ashley Summerfield, Global Practice Leader for CEO Succession and Board Consulting at Egon Zehnder, Vineet Hemrajani, India Managing Partner of Egon Zehnder, and Darpan Kalra, who specializes in board consulting for Egon Zehnder, share what it takes to be an effective director and the key qualities of a chair in unlocking and enabling board effectiveness.

A new session of Egon Zehnder’s Directors Development Program took a holistic look at board management to uncover “The Best Practices of High- Performing Boards.” It was led by Dinesh Khara, chairman of the State Bank of India and a veteran of board leadership for over a decade. Khara discussed the various factors that shape a board’s effectiveness, from its long-term vision to specific responsibilities to agenda setting.

One of the sessions of Egon Zehnder’s Directors Development Program looked at board governance from the perspective of the regulator, as well as how boards can be effective from a regulatory standpoint. On the panel were Subhash Khuntia, former chair IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India), and N S Vishwanathan, former deputy governor of RBI and currently chair of Axis Bank.

Egon Zehnder’ Directors Development Program held a session on this topic led by Sunil Mehta, former Chair of PNB and Yes Bank, in which he shared his insights, knowledge, and experience navigating various crises at the highest level of corporate governance.

“What is strategy?” asked Ashish Nanda to board members attending Egon Zehnder’s Directors Development Program.

One of the sessions of Egon Zehnder’s Directors Development Program addressed the multifaceted challenges of cybersecurity in a world that is becoming more technology driven and more connected. With a focus on cybersecurity risks and how the board can address them, the session was hosted by Rahul Tyagi, co-founder Safe Security, one the world’s largest cybersecurity assessment company, and Nandkumar Saravade, former CEO of ReBIT and a renowned authority on data security.

Over the past couple of decades, traditional financial institutions and service providers have gradually found themselves in the midst of an entirely new and continuously evolving competitive landscape. Facilitated by rapid and extraordinary advances in modern technology, the rise of digital services and new players from the burgeoning fintech and insurtech sectors has not only led to increased optionality for customers but has also given birth to a range of novel use cases and a veritable reimagining of how customers interact with financial products in the digital age.

As tools like artificial intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality, and advanced robotics continue to evolve at a rapid pace, many professionals across industries find themselves playing catch-up in an effort to understand the near-term and long-term impacts of these technologies on both their work and day-to-day lives. Are the increasing capabilities of modern AI systems something to be feared or received with open arms? How will interacting in the so-called “metaverse” make the real world a better place? What would a meaningful relationship between a human and a robot actually look like?

A new installment of Egon Zehnder’s Directors Development Program unpacked legal principles and liabilities for board directors in a session titled “The Board’s Legal Environment.” Leading the discussion was Sharad Abhyankar, a Senior Partner at Khaitan & Co. who specializes in commercial and corporate law and corporate governance matters.

Over the past decade, the gradual rollout and success of the India Stack has allowed the country to emerge as an unexpected global role model for facilitating rapid economic growth, financial inclusion, and the creation and refinement of a nationally sanctioned digital public infrastructure (DPI). From the 2009 conception and implementation of Aadhaar, its novel biometric digital identification system, to the 2016 launch of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an interoperable and increasingly secure digital payments application and infrastructure, India continues to expand on the capabilities of its DPI and position itself as a leader in both technological innovation and social progress.

For well over a decade, the global landscape of business and commerce has been in the midst of a rapid and continuous evolution. And while ongoing trends toward digital transformation, as well as the more recent emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI), have opened up a world of exciting opportunities, they have also led to a variety of new and complex leadership challenges for board members. Put simply, being tasked with executing some of the largest change management initiatives of their careers, board members today must not only draw wisdom from past professional experiences, but also actively confront their own situational biases in an effort to embrace curiosity and develop new skills and management strategies.