As part of their corporate governance mandate, boards of directors should become more active in talent management. They must ask top executives key questions to discover whether there are any capability gaps, how any gaps are being addressed, and how the company can prevent gaps from developing in the future.

 In addition, they should ensure that a review of talent strategy (including the diversity of talent) is included routinely on the board’s formal agenda and discussed at least once a year. Without explicit interest from the board, senior executives can also become complacent around these issues and a company’s talent management and strategy can suffer.