Leadership Lounge: How New CEOs Build Productive Relationships With Their Board

As a new CEO, few relationships matter more—and are more complex—than the relationship with your board. The tone you set in the first year can either establish the board as a powerful ally or create friction that slows your progress.

From day one, you are navigating a group of stakeholders with different perspectives, priorities, and expectations. You may find that individual directors have different views about where the organization should go next, what they expect from you, or how involved the board should be in shaping strategy.

So, how can you navigate these relationships and build a productive partnership with your board?

How can you lay the foundations for a strong relationship with your board early on?

Rusty O’Kelley, Leadership Advisor, RRA: If you’ve been a president, a CFO, or a business unit head, you’re used to dealing with and reporting to one person. When you’ve been elevated to an enterprise CEO, suddenly you have multiple bosses.

So, it's important that you take the time to meet with each board member early in their tenure. We recommend you meet with them and get to know them as people before the official transition. It sends an important signal of humility. What you’re trying to understand is: How do they think? What motivates them? What are the hot-button issues for them?

What should you understand about the board before you begin as CEO?

Anita Wingrove, Leadership Advisor, RRA: It's important to get to know the board and understand how they tick. Think about the composition of the board. Is it a mix of independent directors as well as investors? Is the board comprised of industry experts, or does it include a broader set of directors? It’s also important for CEOs to be clear about the context of the company. Is the company in crisis? Are they looking for a turnaround CEO?

What causes tension between new CEOs and their boards?

Ty Wiggins, Leadership Advisor, RRA: The primary source of conflict is often around strategy. The best practice is that the CEO sets the strategy, and the board approves it. When those roles are flipped, that's where we see conflict.

One CEO I spoke with stepped into the role after it had been vacant for a little while. And so, the chair had been playing the role of interim CEO. One of the things we knew we needed to do early was reset the alignment and expectations around strategy setting. The chair had done a great job, but was too comfortable in that role. In order to establish the new CEO’s right to lead, we raised it with the chair and independent director to say that the strategy would now be set by the incoming CEO and not by the chair.

How does the CEO-board relationship evolve over time?

Anita Wingrove, Leadership Advisor, RRA: It’s fascinating to see the relationship, particularly between the CEO and the chair change. In the early days, the chair’s role is often skewed to being the sponsor and the guiding force for the CEO. As the CEO’s leadership moves into the middle and the latter phases, the deeper relationship evolves. Of course, the nature of the relationship with the board as a whole changes by virtue of board renewal, strategy evolution, transformation, and indeed the crises that can hit any board and CEO over time.

About the authors

Rusty O’Kelley co-leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Board and CEO Advisory Partners practice. He is based in Miami.
Ty Wiggins is the global lead of Russell Reynolds Associates’ CEO and Executive Transition practice, and author of The New CEO: Lessons from CEOs on How to Start Well and Perform Quickly (Minus the Common Mistakes).
Anita Wingrove is a leadership advisor, focused on CEO succession and development and broader C-suite advisory services across Asia Pacific. She is based in Melbourne.