Good Governance: Who needs a shadow board?
Add younger employees and members directly to your C-suite and board to benefit from their skills and knowledge today.
I read with interest a Fortune article entitled “Companies are turning to ‘Shadow Boards’ to keep in touch with the real world.” The author, Lila MacLellan, defines a shadow board as “a committee of typically younger employees who come together within a firm to advise the management team on key topics, such as company culture, product marketing, trends in technology, and sustainability efforts.” She continues, noting “They are not an official board, of course, but their views often supplement those of experienced, much older corporate directors and C-suite leaders.
“These advisory groups give some businesses insight into their customers’ tastes and passions.”
MacLellan reported that companies like The Body Shop have embraced the trend, and her colleague, Fortune’s Orianna Rosa Royle, recently found that The Body Shop developed its shadow board, with its members aged 30 and under, “when it became aware of the gap between the company’s youngest workers and its leadership team and directors.”
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