Developing reflexive corporate leadership: The role of the non executive director

In recent decades, there have been far too many examples of the world’s business being not sufficiently attentive to governance, with little foresight as to emerging consequences, such as major oil spills, chemical leaks and Enron. Many leaders do not seem to address issues beyond short‐term profitability. The emerging worldwide view is that corporations need to adopt governance models that are more holistic in their approach, pluralistic in representing varying interests, egalitarian in the treatment of stakeholders and essentially more collaborative in their mode of operation. Corporate leaders must emerge more cognitively, emotively and behaviourally reflexive. Such reflexivity comes through the application of practical wisdom to facilitate corporate change. Fully realising value from the board of directors as the guide of the organisation, and specifically from non executive directors (NEDs) is crucial to enduring sustainable change. NEDs’ abilities to span the boundary between the needs and wants of a variety of legitimate stakeholders and the survival requirements of the firm poses a unique management development challenge. NEDs who effectively provide holistic and reflexive insight into the challenges of corporate systems are likely to enhance organisational, societal and environmental wellbeing. Through reflexivity, well skilled and capable NEDs can stimulate the desire to change in the leadership of the organisation and may, as such, prevent future crisis. Towards this end, this presentation will examine how NEDs can leverage their role to promote corporate social performance.