Chapter 18: Leadership in Governance: Women Board Chairs

Although the literature on women on boards (WoB) has exploded recently, behavioral studies examining women directors—their leadership style, for example—do not pay much attention to women independent chairs.² This chapter will explore in more detail the leadership of women board chairs by examining the following research questions: How do women board chairs exercise leadership in this role? What do they consider to be important and critical in performing the chair role?

The chapter is informed by empirical research on leadership-in-governance in New Zealand’s large corporations. This qualitative research study provides detailed accounts of various governance processes and practices within and outside the boardroom. More specifically, in this exploratory study of women board chairs we take into consideration the stories of six women in these positions—four chairs and two deputy chairs in the companies we researched. We had the privilege of conducting in-depth, oneto-one interviews with these extraordinary women, all of them prominent political and business figures, their fellow board members, and CEOs of the corporations in which these women chaired the boards.