Board of Directors, Insights

Board Composition in a Volatile Environment

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Effective boards are moving beyond traditional governance models to build cultures equipped for uncertainty and rapid change.

As a public company director, chair of governance committees, nonprofit trustee and CEO during the most recent polycrisis, I learned that clinging to outdated board playbooks will not meet today’s challenges. I also learned that organizations that rewrite the rules and reimagine new futures are the ones that thrive and pave the way for new perspectives in and around the boardroom.

Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) are the new normal. Unprecedented global and technological disruption, heightened market volatility, upended business models, unpredictable geopolitical and regulatory landscapes, and a surge in activism have fundamentally challenged corporate boards’ ability to govern effectively.

A new board mandate is needed for a VUCA world. Building on the essential pillars of culture, strategy and oversight, this article presents a blueprint for building resilient boards that encompasses four domains: cultural dynamics, mindset and competencies, reimagined paradigms and redesigned governance infrastructure.

Cultural Dynamics

Culture-building and setting the tone at the top remain central to the board’s work. Resilient boards are disciplined about regularly examining the systems, practices and behaviors that support their culture. By fostering open dialogue, experimentation and constructive conversations across differences, they build muscle memory to activate in a VUCA environment. At least annually, boards should set aside a few hours for a “culture retreat” to reaffirm their rules of engagement for decision-making, communication, performance and accountability. Intentionally making time to reaffirm culture strengthens trust, clarifies roles and enables rapid decision-making in a VUCA environment.

Mindset and Competencies

Building a resilient board requires both the skill and the will to think differently and challenge existing norms, while balancing wisdom with proximity to current realities. Core competencies for resilient boards are as much about experience as they are about mindset. By the time someone is able to serve as a director, they should already possess the fundamental skills and attributes outlined in a board matrix. What is harder to assess are the intangible behaviors and values developed over time. Below are competencies and behaviors that foster boardroom resilience.

Curiosity and agility. Boards should include individuals who make lifelong learning a core value. They must be willing to unlearn outdated strategies, adapt quickly to new data, and draw on multiple sources and experiences to make informed decisions based on the best available information — even when it is incomplete. Agility, cultivated through consistent practice, helps boards operate effectively in uncertain environments by anticipating what lies ahead and pausing to seize opportunities that arise amid upheaval.

Ability to see around corners. Boards should include members with strategic foresight, an inclination to anticipate emerging risks and a commitment to scenario planning. They recognize that crisis planning is defensive, whereas future-proofing and building a resilient organization are intentional and proactive. Digital and technological disruption has become an opportunity to strengthen organizational resilience by pressure-testing vulnerabilities, increasing director fluency through education, establishing advisory boards, and strengthening technology and AI governance as part of the board’s core work.

Human-centered leadership during crisis. Resilient boards include members who have led and navigated the VUCA polycrises and the workforce dynamics shaping organizations today. Essential qualities include a strong background in leading through catalytic events, such as industry upheaval and organizational transformation, and a demonstrated commitment to prioritizing people and culture amid such complexity.

Reimagined paradigms

Building a resilient board requires reimagining the paradigms that have shaped how directors are invited to the boardroom. In recent decades, intensified scrutiny from regulators, proxy advisory firms and investors has prompted a focus on refreshing board composition to improve business outcomes. Many companies have embedded board renewal in their culture and have realized bottom-line benefits. While reduced regulatory scrutiny and policy uncertainty have led many to adopt a wait-and-see approach, a VUCA environment requires greater board focus than ever to drive necessary change and build long-term durability.

A VUCA environment demands diversity across all dimensionsto ensure robust dialogue and rapid, strategic decision-making. Boards must remain disciplined in ensuring they reflect diversity in its many forms, including cognitive, experiential and demographic. With five generations in the workforce, proximity to the issues and lived experience broaden and enrich dialogue and decision-making. Global leadership experienceis a top priority when seeking new directors. Organizations that have operated under multiple rulebooks and local norms, and those that have established a strong core purpose and value system inherent in their “DNA,” can more easily weather VUCA storms.

The board skills matrixhas been a helpful, yet often over-relied-upon, tool for identifying gaps and needs on boards. If not used carefully, the matrix can become a structural impediment to board refreshment. When directors default to selecting candidates based solely on prior CEO, CFO or public company board experience — the so-called “big three gates” to the boardroom — the matrix can hinder change.

When building a resilient board, nominating committees must balance the need for broad operational experience with specialized expertise and wisdom with the recency of experience. While CEO, CFO and prior public-company board experience is important, there is a risk of filling the boardroom with people who share similar backgrounds, which can lead to assimilation and groupthink, especially during complex crises. Amid VUCA pressures, there is also the risk of filling a board with specialists.

Boards have long grappled with the “generalist versus specialist” debate and with forming special committees to address potential risks and skill gaps. The debate has recently centered on ESG expertise and ensuring climate competency in the boardroom. With the need for global, digital and technology experience, the issue has taken on new resonance. Every board seat counts. Therefore, directors need to be utility players, drawing on a range of experiences to fill multiple roles and serve on various committees. The desire for specialist expertise is increasingly being met by forming advisory boards and engaging outside expertise to provide targeted guidance on specific industry disruptions and to pursue new business as well as marketing initiatives.

Redesigned Governance Infrastructure

A board mandate for resilience requires redesigning governance structures to thrive in a VUCA environment. As a former Fortune 200 corporate secretary and a current public company director, I deeply respect governance and its foundational systems. However, these systems must be examined to determine whether they are built to withstand a VUCA environment. One way to pressure-test existing systems and composition strategies is to imagine building a brand-new board designed to be agile enough to envision and thrive across multiple futures. Conducting a blank-sheet-of-paper exercise can reveal opportunities and surface roadblocks to implementing change.

Maximizing time together for high-impact work and strategic decision making is a powerful step toward building resilience. Agendas should be restructured to create space for deeper dialogue, culture retreats, director education and scenario planning. Boards should also enhance their preparation and analysis with AI tools, enabling directors to save time and devote more attention to strategic matters. While seemingly straightforward, embracing new tools and making time on board agendas are among the hardest steps to take because they challenge cultural norms and power dynamics. A critical step a board can take to address these issues is to empower its C-suite and corporate secretary teams to implement these changes. Without buy-in from, at a minimum, the board chair and the nom/gov committee chair, these infrastructure changes will not take root.

Board seats are limited and, because they are coveted, well-paid, long-term positions, low director turnover can stifle meaningful change. Tenure-limiting mechanisms, such as assessments, succession planning, retirement policies, term limits, and resignation and over-boarding policies are often in place but generally lack teeth, with exit ramps and discretion to override them.

VUCA, however, is compelling boards to redesign these mechanisms to make room for new perspectives in the boardroom. Disciplined performance management and succession planning are tied to a strong board culture that helps manage tenure expectations while encouraging refreshment. Board performance and succession planning should be conducted with at least the same rigor and analysis as management evaluations. Boards are increasingly using technology to strengthen succession planning and refresh board and committee leadership. They assess individual performance using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods aligned with future organizational and cultural needs. While recruiting new directors, resilient boards also focus on upskilling existing members by strengthening onboarding, mentoring and educational programs to close knowledge gaps and mitigate risks in a VUCA environment.

Resilient Boards Foster Resilient Cultures and Organizations Boards have a new mandate to leverage the VUCA environment to drive growth and seize opportunities. Building a resilient board requires reimagining governance infrastructure, behaviors, systems and norms, and assessing whether they support long-term value creation for all stakeholders. Boards that prioritize people, curiosity and agility, and embrace a culture of collaboration, constructive dissent and rapid decision-making under imperfect conditions, will thrive amid volatility.

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Tanuja Dehne is a Managing Director at DSG Global who brings a disctinctive “inside the boardroom” perspective to her client partnerships

This article was originally published by Directors & Boards on May 27, 2026, and has been republished here with permission. All rights reserved by Directors & Boards. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited without prior written consent from the original publisher.

Directors & Boards is published by MLR Media. Through digital platforms, magazines and events, MLR Media provides public and private company directors, leaders and owners of multigenerational family businesses and C-suite executives with the knowledge and skills to be successful in their roles.