It's the discipline that lets a Board make hard decisions well, and defend them later. I bring direct Board-level experience — as Chair, not just an advisor watching from outside.
I was appointed Chair after helping establish the charity's first Board. The role involved building the governance structure from nothing — the constitution, the charter, the working relationship between the Board, the Lead Advocate and six Board Members — while keeping the organisation's climate advocacy purpose at the centre of every decision.
Early in the Board's life, a private jet company offered a partnership worth around 20% of our annual revenue, in exchange for joint promotion. It was a genuine dilemma — the funds would have materially expanded our work, and one argument held that partnering might nudge a high-emissions industry toward better practice.
It took four months and many meetings to reach a decision. In the end we declined, on the basis of integrity, reputation and purpose — not because the economics were unattractive, but because they weren't the point. The company made a smaller, unconditional donation instead.
The discipline to separate what would help the balance sheet from what the organisation actually exists to do.What good governance requires
Away from formal governance roles, I also advise ownership groups and leadership teams on the practical resilience of the business itself — visibility and control over the numbers that matter, continuity of process and leadership beyond any one key person, and the strength of customer and supply chain relationships under pressure.
This work sits deliberately outside an exit or sale frame. The goal isn't to prepare a business to be sold. It's to make sure it can keep going well, with or without the person currently holding it together.
Sometimes the most valuable thing a Board can have is someone in the room who has sat through one of these before.
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