As society and business are reconciling the events of the past two years and a new license to operate is taking shape for corporations, there is a marked need for boards to understand what changes they need to make in both the near term and long term to lead their organizations successfully and ensure they can continue to operate effectively.

In many countries around the world, there is also a very clear expectation that companies will take a stand on social and political issues.¹  A clear example of this has been organizations’ responses to the ongoing war in Ukraine: many companies made the decision to leave the Russian market and sacrifice their profit and operations for the greater good. Perhaps even more pronounced are the expectations from a wide range of stakeholders who, more and more, are demanding that companies act in a sustainable manner.

But have boards moved the dial when it comes to changing their composition to tackle these new expectations and mitigate the risk of losing their license to operate? Our analysis of the board appointments made in 2021 in TSX 60 companies suggests that, in Canada, they have—somewhat. 

Although there has been progress in broadening the spectrum of experience around boardroom tables in TSX 60 companies, organizations need to ensure they are not only prepared for today’s challenges but can anticipate what type of directors they need to appoint in order to future-proof their organizations.

To learn more about how Canada’s leading companies are doing this, we spoke with 25 board members of those leading companies across industries to understand what they view as today’s most pressing challenges, how board composition is changing, and how it should change going forward.

For more information, download the full Board Monitor Canada 2022 report.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the following Heidrick & Struggles colleagues for their contributions to this report: Nancie Lataille and Laryssa Topolnytsky.

Reference

1 Edelman Trust Barometer 2022, Edelman, January 2022, edelman.com.