Insights
Digital Transformation of the Boardroom
LINKEDIN SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP
FOUNDING STATEMENT
By Tim O’Hanlon
PURPOSE
Welcome to this LinkedIn special interest group: Digital Transformation of the Boardroom. As a c-suit practitioner of over 30 years on governance of Global 2,000 companies, I have built up a substantial knowledge-base – what I call a brains trust – on the subject. It covers many hundreds of topics that I believe would be of value to share and refine with other people who have a similar passion, interest and/or range of experiences.
I am hoping that our contributions over the years will make this group a valuable centre of excellence for executive committees and boardroom members of the large, highly complex organisations that make up the Global 2,000 companies that I have had the good fortune of working with throughout my career.
SCOPE
That is not to say that my focus on governance of the Global 2,000 companies means the outputs of this group would not be equally beneficial for those involved in the governance of smaller organisations. I am sure it will be. However, the larger organisations that boards and executive committees govern have challenges that I have been attempting to solve for many years and that is where I would like to focus my attention with this group.
WHY DIGITIAL TRANSFORMATION?
The idea of this special interest group being about digital transformation is because technology in the boardroom is central to my thinking on why boards and executive teams fail at governance.
I’m an engineer and when I look at the incredible controls built into the bridge of a super tanker, the cockpit of an airbus or mission control for space exploration, I understand that we are dealing with lives that are at risk, hence the advanced control capabilities that are at the fingertips of those in charge.
But what about the livelihoods lost and negative psychological impacts that occur when boards and executive teams of large complex organisations fail? From Enron to Carillion and the many other organisations in between that I have studied over the years, if a similar set of circumstances presented themselves to any of the larger, more complex organisations, who is to say that they wouldn’t also fail.
I do believe that if there was sound design applied to the business architecture of these complex structures and enough investment in the enabling technology applied to deliver the equivalent of the bridge, cockpit or mission control, we would have far fewer failures. I am sure, at this point, there will be readers that think that this is already taken care of by X, Y or Z in their organisations. Over the years, I have been told this so often.
The problem is that they don’t know what they don’t know and that is their blind spot until they are blind-sided by “the perfect storm” that they didn’t believe was possible. So, I have a lot to say about this in the group and I am confident that what I will be covering will not fit into the “already taken care of” category of topics.
So, this is what I would like to focus on with this group. I look forward to the journey with those who are interested in advancing the thinking with me.
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
I am hoping that I will not have to moderate too strictly but there are some basic rules I would like to share before we get started. The three main ones are
I am not looking to promote any products or services through this group. So, I would appreciate it if all inputs could avoid links to company or individual services or products. It may be difficult to avoid it altogether but know that I will be on the lookout for any promotional material or campaigning.
I am looking for informed input that adds value to the conversation. So, where you are keen to contribute, don’t hesitate to get into the thick of the interactions but check what value your input will provide before hitting the send button. On the other hand, not everyone who joins the group has to contribute as I would like to spread the understanding as broadly as possible as we cover the many topics I have in mind.
Keeping to the subject of this group is important. I do not want to get into emotionally charged topics that polarise and create discontent in the group. I will leave it to group members to make a judgement here but will step in and moderate where I believe the input is more destructive than constructive.
OUTCOME
At the end of the day, I want to create value from my contributions and those of the group. I want to find solutions to the governance challenges that boards and executive teams must deal with. I want to tap into the collective wisdom of contributors to test suggested solutions and find new ways of dealing with challenges that are presented.
I look forward to welcoming you to the group.
Kind regards
Tim O’Hanlon
Tackling today’s business disruptors at the sharp end without solving underlying performance barriers is like shuffling deckchairs on the pool deck while the engine room is flooding.