EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION Valcon, the Scandinavian management consulting firm, and Board Network, The Danish Professional Directors Association, conducted a Scandinavian survey among corporate board chairs and board members to gain their view on the most significant trends, changes and challenges. We asked them to tell us how ready their companies and organisations were to act in a world with an unprecedented level of complexity and uncertainty. We also asked them to share with us their views on the board’s role in developing a future-proof company, a company ready to handle this complexity and uncertainty. We furthermore conducted interviews with several leading board members who shared their own perspectives on the challenges and opportunities in establishing a future-proof organisation, not least the challenges of defining the role of the board in such an organisation. HERE IS WHAT WE LEARNED In short, the boards evaluated themselves as ready for the future. 265 Scandinavian board members rated the boards as well as the organisations highly in aspects of what it means to be future-proof. The board members answered favourably when it came to evaluations of the board’s focus on continuous improvement and development of the organisation as well as ongoing adjustments of the organisation. Overall, the picture painted by the respondents shows that the boards are ready for disruption of their markets and changing customer needs and that they know the importance of continuously developing the strategy and processes to reflect these changing market conditions. It would also appear that the boards have confidence in their organisations’ future-proof state. They rated their organisations almost as highly as themselves in terms of ability to adapt to the changing needs of customers and to have the necessary insights and relevant processes in place. 3
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