en
Thought leadership, research and data to unlock your organization’s potential.
Recent articles reported by our team on important business-news developments.
Our national magazine featuring long and short form features. Plus, a regular podcast diving into leadership issues.
Our look at pressing problems and solutions for board directors.
Engaging articles centered on business issues our clients have tackled.
Weekly leadership messages from our CEO Gary Burnison, capturing the mood and the moment with storytelling and insights.
Unleashing potential in your teams and organization starts with you.
Potential can't be unleashed without the supporting structures, skillsets and culture.
You can hire people with high potential but unless they’re engaged, you won’t be able to maximize it.
Briefings for the Boardroom
November’s results will swing business policy in one of two vastly different directions. How should boards be preparing for different scenarios?
Half of newly appointed directors are now working—not retired—executives. What’s driving the change?
Companies are holding a record $3.8 trillion in cash. Why directors need to start pressing leaders on how they plan to spend it.
Firms citing AI-related risks to business in annual reports increased a whopping 474% this year. How much should boards be concerned?
Underscoring the demands on leaders of an increasing complex and stressful business environment, last year more CEOs died in office than in any year since 2010—and the number leaving for “personal reasons” doubled.
More than one-third of board directors have raised issues about the quality—and quantity—of pre-meeting materials. Is it time for firms to make them more snackable and digestible?
A new Korn Ferry report finds that more boards are disclosing information about the annual evaluation process. But fewer of them are conducting individual director assessments.
In a dramatic reversal from the past few years, concern over supply-chain disruption has waned among boards. What does that mean for the function’s leaders?
One-third of CEOs are now leaving their posts within three years, a new Korn Ferry study finds. Would better succession planning help retain them?
Boards have been tweaking the pay for committees and their members in order to better reflect the differing levels of their contributions. But does that send the wrong signal?
In an interview with Korn Ferry, Bender talks about how boards are thinking about generative AI, succession planning, and why even directors need mentors.
A remarkable nine out of ten executives, and nearly 50% of directors, think at least one board member should be replaced.
As ransomware attacks grow and firms are forced to pay off hackers, more boards are being left out of the equation.
The transformative potential of AI is creating a tighter level of collaboration and trust between boards and leaders “as they try to get their arms around” the technology.
After mostly rising in recent years, CEO pay has leveled off, recent filings show. Why boards’ moods have shifted in this much-watched arena.
A new study shows that directors with different political views than incoming CEOs are more likely to leave the board. Will the upcoming US presidential election create only more strains?
A new Korn Ferry study finds boards are dedicated to ESG initiatives—but prefer to call them something else.
As skill sets and time commitments grow for board leads, directors are debating whether pay should increase too. Is the added scrutiny caused by such increases worth it?
Investors can now cherry-pick directors from competing slates in proxy contests. Who will activists try to remove?
Boards are increasingly having to deal with sudden departures of executive leaders, prompting a rethink on how to prepare for the unexpected.
Boards are stepping up efforts to hasten director turnover and make room for the “next generation of directors.” The pros and cons of the new direction.
The role of the compensation committee is changing dramatically, creating a new level of accountability. But will some new duties become overwhelming?
A new Korn Ferry study shows more boards are doing independent evaluations. But fewer than a quarter of them are disclosing any changes made.
A new SEC plan that would greatly expand mandatory climate-related disclosures could also shift the makeup and responsibilities of boards. Will it usher in a new breed of ESG director?
As the market has tanked, so have stock options for many top executives. Will retention become an issue for boards to consider?
A new Korn Ferry study of the 100 largest publicly traded REITs shows how far their boards’ efforts to increase diversity have come —and how far they still have to go.
As the business environment becomes more complex, organizations are increasingly turning to advisory boards to help sort out the issues.
For the first time since the Cold War, directors everywhere in nearly every business are faced with a geopolitical crisis impacting their companies.
A legal challenge to Nasdaq’s new board-diversity rules suggests directors still aren’t comfortable with transparency.
As the well-documented problem persists, experts say boards may need to step in to help management.
As more companies pledge to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, boards face the difficult task of helping leaders balance social-impact goals and financial interests.
Directors find themselves needing different skills to navigate frequent board meetings, board gatherings, board get-togethers, board one-on-ones, board—you get the idea.
After overseeing multiple digitization efforts, the veteran director has insights on how boards can help their firms make smart tech decisions.
New data suggests the diversity push is at a critical juncture, with a huge spike in Black director appointments last year but signs of momentum waning.
With a CEO’s ethics and personal life now mattering more than ever, more boards are directly asking candidates questions that used to be off the table.
A new book coauthored by Korn Ferry’s Dennis Carey boldly argues that compensation committees should be part of key talent searches.
Spurred on by stakeholders, boards are trying to include diversity, social impact, and sustainability goals into incentive plans. The question is, how?
The social-media-fueled run-up of some stocks last month has compensation committees debating how much executives should be able to profit from such frenzies.
Nike’s corporate responsibility, sustainability, and governance chair talks about reimagining board roles in the middle of a pandemic.
In a surprise shift, fewer firms are picking CEOs as outside directors. Is it a trend that makes sense?
Directors of acquiring companies rarely speak out against a proposed deal. But with M&A activity heating up and CEOs anxious to buy growth, they may have to.
The pandemic continues to hamper board involvement—to the point where directors question their influence.
Compensation committees face a daunting challenge—putting together 2021 incentive and bonus plans for a year that’s likely to be as uncertain as 2020.
Corporate boards are in a delicate spot if their CEO gets hit with the virus.
With so many companies filing for bankruptcy protection because of the pandemic, the battle to attract directors for when they emerge will be intense.
After rarely adjusting incentive structures, boards in the age of COVID are being forced to rethink far more long term. It’s not an easy shift.
A key corporate governance outfit weighs in on the latest tensions, asking firms to release data likely to reveal slow, if any, progress on racial diversity.
A board member of Bed Bath & Beyond and other firms, Mary Winston talks about life as a director over these last few hectic months.
Healthcare boards are among the least diverse of any industry, and as COVID-19 shows, that’s a big problem for its future.
Measuring diversity as one broad category is doing a disservice to the advancement of Black talent, experts say.
With each industry hit differently by the pandemic, this is how compensation committees are rating CEO performance.
In the midst of a global pandemic, boards need new directors who can jump in to help quickly. But can that happen in a virtual world?
Korn Ferry’s board practice leaders interviewed dozens of global 500 and Fortune 1000 directors about their coronavirus response plans.
How boards in this environment should help and guide—not overly direct—CEOs and other corporate leaders.
Despite growing financial challenges, experts say boards can still try to balance key purpose-movement programs.
Best-selling author Daniel Goleman explains how these key “domains” of EI may be valuable in helping board directors through unforeseen events.
Studies show boards rarely prepare for a crisis. How to step up their game in the outbreak era.
The Oracle of Omaha complains that firms aren’t bringing in enough “pit bull” directors. Is he right?
As CEO tenure changes, so does unrest in the rest of the C-Suite.
Directors can get slammed with a lot of work. And then there’s the case of Lucien Alziari and his first year as a board director.
Many directors will lose their seats during this record year in mergers. But some find ways to stay on.
Multiple big deals this year are tempting firms to get into the cash-rush. Should boards put the kibosh on some of them?
A new study shows director pay rose only 2% last year. But the push to keep comp out of the limelight continues.
Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison on how "right brain" skills can be surprisingly critical.
Korn Ferry CEO Gary Burnison says boards must deal with a new workforce reality: “career nomads” who shift jobs often.
The elusive trick to board chemistry may include formal gut-check reviews along with more reaching out, Korn Ferry’s RJ Heckman says in his new book.
Pay jumped sizeably last year, according to an early sampling. But boards seem to be shifting the mix of long-term incentives.
Fewer than half of India’s firms have identified potential future CEOs. A new Korn Ferry report highlights how boards in India, or anywhere else, can improve.
Recent incidents suggest that getting a stamp of approval on environmental and governance issues isn’t enough.
A little-noticed tax law change may have sweeping changes on what boards decide on C-suite pay.
For the most part, boards are still trying to wrap their heads around what AI really is and how to deploy it to benefit the organization
The state’s new mandate for female representation leaves boards little choice but to form strong succession plans far in advance.
A new Korn Ferry discussion paper hopes to encourage an important transition of the Compensation Committee to a newly proposed Leadership and Talent Committee.
Nearly half of directors are failing to anticipate business risks that are not in plain sight. How the better boards can steer management to catch the next tariff war or social snafu.
A study suggests diverse boards face a hidden problem. How smart organizations find a way to get things done.
Forward-thinking leaders are putting their firms’ people and money on equal footing, and it starts with a simple meeting, says Korn Ferry’s Dennis Carey.
Questioning management is good. Dictating what it should do is not.
Shareholders are increasingly questioning how a director’s pay is determined. One potential solution.
Boards must evaluate all the risks before business conditions deteriorate, as they inevitably will.
CEO Gary Burnison cautions directors to plan for changes in the economic cycle.
With more CEOs stepping down, how boards pick the next generation becomes a much bigger deal.
Whether a firm has a split CEO/chair structure matters less than whether it has effective, independent board leadership.
Savvy directors should consider staying ahead of the game to beat aggressive activist investors.
A good—but also challenging—problem for comp committees.
How boards should tackle issues from institutional investors.
What leading boards are doing.
A look at who boards are adding to their ranks.
What is your company doing to prepare?
Korn Ferry Hay Group’s exclusive look at director pay at 300 companies.
Picked correctly, a nominating and governance committee can spur change from within.
Static peer groups are a notion of the past. In today’s busy, shifting capital markets, it is vital to have an understanding of your peer companies.
Korn Ferry interviews Bill George (Goldman Sachs board member, fellow at Harvard Business School and former chair and CEO of Medtronic).
Bill George discusses why a healthy leadership pipeline is essential to choosing the right CEO.
Improved CEO assessments may significantly boost corporate value and CEO tenure.
Michael Distefano, President of the Korn Ferry Institute interviews Mit Shah, Chairman, CEO and Owner on the topic of CEO Succession.
In this issue of Briefings for the Boardroom (BfB), we continue to explore the critical issue of cybersecurity.
Selecting a new chief executive is critical because so much rides on a positive outcome.
The failure of a new CEO can be costly, but many boards still don’t employ a rigorous process designed to identify the best CEO candidates.
Watch our interview with Lieutenant General Franklin L. Hagenbeck on the threat of cyberterrorism.
