Moving from Board Member to Board Leader

Editor's Note: Read more about this topic in the full article we published in December of 2022, Transitioning from Board Member to Board Leader.

In the last five years, boards in the United States have been more intentional about adding directors from underrepresented minorities. Our 2022-2023 Global Board Diversity Tracker shows that 19 percent of directorships among Russell 3000 companies are held by non-white board members, which is an increase of 7 percent since 2020. However, that same level of progress is lagging when it comes to board leadership positions. Ninety percent of chair positions in Russell 3000 companies are held by white directors in 2022, and 87 percent of committee chair positions are held by white board members. 

We believe diversifying board leadership is a critical next step for boards to ensure a pipeline of diverse representation at the board level and to build and maintain an inclusive board culture. We recently gathered 25 corporate directors in their first few years of board service and four experienced board leaders for a conversation about how to move from board member to board leader. The video below captures some of those key insights. To read more about it, there's also a full article capturing these insights.