Insights

Purpose
Solar panels addressing the challenge of climate change with Elizabeth May

Addressing the Challenges of Climate Change in the Boardroom

On April 11, Principal of The Directors College, Michael Hartmann welcomed former Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May to Module 4 for a conversation about climate change and how leaders need to think differently in order to lead their organizations through the threat of environmental change.

cover of report on purpose governance

Purpose Governance: The Role of the Board in Developing and Overseeing the Purpose of the Organization

Accelerated by COVID-19, more organizations are discovering and defining the purpose of their organizations, to steer and navigate through turbulent times and unlock greater social and business value. There is also growing demand among investors, employees, and customers that they do so. This report addresses these issues and sets them in context.

diverse directors having side conversations in a boardroom

Managing Reputation in Times of Disruption: Lessons in Real Time

On April 14, in the first installment of The McMaster Collaboratorium, Principal of The Directors College, Michael Hartmann and guest panelist John Crean, Senior Managing Director at TENEO Canada, take a deeper look at managing reputation: What are the best practices; how boards are trying to apply best practice principles under uncertain circumstances, and what might be the new set of practices and principles to emerge post-pandemic.

ethical columns against a blue sky

The Ethical Director: Responsibility and Governance

When using the word ethics in a sentence, there is often an inherent sense of understanding its true meaning -- but is that the case? Surely, ethics are black and white, no more complicated than right and wrong? On the surface, that appears so. However, ethics are impermanent, they’re not cast in stone – they are a set of moral principles, relating to or affirming a form of acceptable conduct as determined by a group of people.