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We look at board constellations and together create wider horizons and deeper development commitments. If I had read this book earlier, I might have arrived at this point sooner! It should certainly be preparatory, thought-provoking reading for our participants. I regard this book as an invitation to play our collective part in helping to transform boards in an era of great complexity and significance. Unlocking more of the potential of our boards and organizations is an imperative. Rather than retiring from Egon Zehnder after chairing it, I feel as though I've chosen it for the second time in my life because the mission to help transform boards is so clear. Having peers like Yves and Keeley stepping up with such a clear ask of our boards is both inspiring and reassuring. Governance is certainly important, but it needs to be set in a more developmental journey for boards to pursue. Here is the blueprint.

Allow me to focus on culture and the role boards should play in that context. We've seen too many situations where a board's awareness and antennae on culture have been dormant. The implicit contract with employees and society appears to have changed; what got us here is no longer sufficient. In fact, it's a risk that most boards are not reflecting in their risk registers.

Today, boards have a responsibility to gauge the resonance and relevance of the organization's values, the degree to which leadership "walks the talk" on culture, and how up-to-date their grievance procedures are—or, more pertinently, their reactions and responses to grievances. That's no longer just an executive responsibility. We are seeing many countries in which cultural stewardship by boards is needed and expected. Let's raise our game on culture along with our curiosity and concern for such matters.

I was pleased to see Yves and Keeley cover this issue.

Board effectiveness reviews have become core to good governance and transparency. There's definite progress. Yet I realized we are asking questions that are too narrowly defined. I now approach board reviews through a constellation lens, looking for what is in flow or out of kilter, helping boards to be more curious and self-aware, fostering discussions about their patterns, which in itself starts to shift them. Yves and Keeley provide a highly relevant lens on board evolution and a mirror to help us see where we've become stuck and how to be more in synch with what's needed from boards in the future. I'm grateful to them.

Leading from the board in this level of complexity requires us to be sensing, to understand our patterns as a board, to work within the broader ecosystem, and to always be curious. Those things might not feel "leaderly" and "board-like"; they certainly go way beyond compliance. But more of the same won't cut it. We need fit-for-the future boards, and Keeley and Yves provide us with very helpful frameworks and reflective questions to gauge our boards' strategic agility or rigidity, our external antennae, and our internal congruence. This book is essential reading for board members who want to make a difference at a board-appropriate "altitude." Well done, Yves and Keeley!

Dame Jill Ader, senior adviser and former chairwoman, Egon Zehnder

INTRODUCTION

ESCAPING THE GROWTH CURSE

Over the past four decades, the growth curse has become a pervasive problem for the companies ensnared by it, the people whose lives are made miserable by it, and the societies that ultimately suffer as a result of it. So, what is the curse at the heart of this book?

In short, as companies mature, their underlying growth naturally slows. Yet investors have come to expect continual strong growth. To meet these demands, chief executive officers (CEOs) and senior executives buckle under pressure and focus on delivering short-term financial results—or the "illusion of growth." But this type of growth comes at a devastating cost. It's a distraction from developing genuine value-creating strategies. It weakens the company, making it less resilient in the face of disruption and inflection points. And ironically, it hastens a firm's decline by directing resources and energy to shoring up the illusion of growth instead of building capabilities to redirect the company toward new challenges.