Corporate governance highlights from 2022

MENA:

• A lot of interest in corporate governance in 2022. 
• Increased demand for more knowledge of digital transformation.
• Organisations were motivated to talk about governance because:
  • Good governance attracts investors which increases access to finance.
  • In the post-pandemic world, employee experience and what motivates employees were a big focus of corporate governance and ESG. 
  • Risk management from the board’s perspective became a big issue.
  • Gender balance, while still in its early stages in MENA, is being influenced by new regulations.

The US:

• Climate change means ESG rose in importance on the governance framework.
• There was a focus on over-boarding i.e. how much time do directors have to do their good work? What is a director doing and how are they doing it? International investors have stepped forward to make sure directors are not over-boarded. 
• Compensation: there has been a recent focus on fraud and holding directors accountable. 

Europe:

• What brought us here won’t get us there: the CEO model of top-down leadership has started to come to an end in favour of connected leadership. 
• Reputation management and building trust were key elements of the year.
• There has been a realisation that the CEO needs to set the standard when it comes to culture. 
• The influence of external stakeholders has grown as they have increased the depth of their research into organisations.

Corporate governance predictions for 2023

MENA:

• ESG and the connection to wellbeing will be critical. The impact of employee wellbeing on an organisation will be further explored.
• Better regulation will help put ESG firmly in place.
• Reporting requirements will get better.
• The evaluation process will be critical for organisations and financial institutions evaluating other organisations’ ESG practices.

The US:

• Corporate greenwashing will be brought to the forefront and fines will be enforced. The government is becoming intolerant of organisations not having the frameworks in place to deliver what they say they’ll deliver on ESG.
• AI and employee distrust will come into focus. Conversations will take place around how we’re using AI to police worker activity.
• Intervention in the great tech disruptions will take place in areas such as innovation, blockchain, AI and things that allow us to be in multiple places at multiple times.
• Inflation and supply chain disruption is something we’ll continually try to overcome.

Europe:

• Content will be focused on ESG and AI.
• The governance structure and structural changes to do with over-boarding and C-level functions will be more deeply explored. An increase in executive committees will be a feature of 2023.
• The role of the Chair will make or break leadership in 2023. The effective Chair will be more invisible, remain neutral and resist pushing through their own views. A good chair will need to understand the business more in the coming year.

Geo-political risk, economic uncertainty, growing inflation and environmental disruption have had a major impact on governance in 2022. How will this climate of upheaval affect governance and the decisions boards make in 2023?

Join our four-strong panel for this free webinar where they’ll be discussing the key governance themes that emerged in 2022 and their predictions for 2023.

The expert panellists will be Wassim Karkabi from Stanton Chase in Dubai, Stefan Peij the founder of The Governance University in the Netherlands and Karima Mariama-Arthur who leads governance programs at Wharton, Cornell and Columbia Universities.  The webinar will be moderated by David W Duffy, the co-founder of the Corporate Governance Institute.

This promises to be a lively and informative webinar. We’re looking forward to seeing you there.

Karima Mariama-Arthur is a corporate attorney and leading authority on leadership development and organisational performance management. She advises distinguished organisations from Washington DC to Dubai. Her expert insights help clients to successfully navigate today’s ever-changing and competitive global business environment. Karima is the author of the internationally acclaimed leadership guidebook, Poised For Excellence: Fundamental Principles of Effective Leadership in the Boardroom and Beyond. Karima speaks regularly both nationally and internationally and serves in an advisory capacity on select corporate boards.

Wassim Karkabi is a leadership, organisational culture and business growth expert with hands-on experience in helping multinational and regional organisations identify and resolve their board, executive, leadership and business growth challenges.

He has and continues to serve as a shareholder, chairman, board director, advisory board member, CEO and managing partner to a number of organisations. He advises international and regional organisations on strategy, business performance, leadership performance and business growth areas.

Stefan Peij is the founder and managing director of the Governance University, a training institution for non-executive directors and company secretaries, established in the Netherlands. He is an experienced researcher, teacher, boardroom consultant and board member.

David W Duffy is the founder and CEO of the Corporate Governance Institute, an experienced board member, a governance consultant and a leading author on corporate governance. David is considered an innovator in governance research and engagement and is an authority on global, board-related matters.