Board Chair — Governance Renewal and Integration (Telecoms)

Chairing a board while it redraws its own lines

Most chairs inherit a settled structure of delegations and spend their energy on agenda and people. This Board Chair will be leading the board through a renewal of the structure itself: who may decide what, in which entity, through which committee. In technology businesses that grow by building and combining entities, delegated authority tends to be layered rather than designed, and the chair's task is to make it legible again.

The work is oversight. The chair does not run the review; the chair makes sure it is done honestly, that directors understand what they are delegating, and that the result holds up when tested by real decisions.

How far the chair's reach extends

The chair agrees with fellow directors which decisions local leadership keeps, and settles the evidence the board leans on when it oversees investment, capacity and control. Inherited commitments are reviewed under the chair's eye; where one leaves its cost or risk resting with nobody in particular, the chair presses for an owner, and no investment case reaches a vote until take-up, operating dependencies and downside have been tested. The chair also oversees how management is organised and how matters are raised, helps directors and operating leaders settle disputes before money is committed, and decides how often the board looks at progress and decisions still open.

What the year should leave behind

The first ninety days should set the board agenda for the year, review committee mandates and agree the scope of the delegated-authority review across every entity. Around month nine, the revised delegations should be in use in committee practice, with the inevitable conflicts between entities and committees surfaced and resolved rather than left to precedent. By month 12 the renewed framework should be reviewed through a board evaluation, and the next evaluation cycle should be in the diary.

A chair who has led through separation and combination

We are looking for board service over businesses with revenue from $760 million upward, 1,800 people or more, and a presence in five countries. Experience of carve-out, integration and professionalisation is central, because each is a moment when delegations are redrawn under pressure. A chair renewing delegations needs governance ethics at level 4. Entity governance at level 3 matters more than usual here, because delegations live entity by entity; risk judgement and the management of the board and its stakeholders are wanted at the same level.

Faced with partial evidence about how an entity really ran, you have taken a decision that could be undone, then firmed it up as better information arrived. You keep the board's narrative tied to operating evidence rather than letting the two drift apart. You would count it a good first quarter if the renewed board ended something that no longer earned its place, even with nothing new launched, and you can bring colleagues to that view without forcing it on them.

Starting with the board, ending with it

The process begins and ends with directors. Week 1 is a private video conversation with the Board of Directors about the renewal and how you would chair it. In week 3 the Risk Committee Chair takes you through where delegations and risk appetite meet, as a working discussion rather than an interview. In week 5 you meet in person with executives who lead the company's separate functions, the people who will live under whatever delegations emerge. In week 7 the whole board meets you. Expect our feedback, in writing, within four working days of each meeting.