A survey conducted in partnership between Diligent and Corporate Board Member — the Director Confidence Index — reveals that directors rate the current risk level for U.S. companies at 6.8 out of 10, with little hope of the situation improving.
“These two answer options are inherently related,” says Dottie Schindlinger, executive director of the Diligent Institute and partner in this research. “As boards recognize the need for more frequent conversations about risk and strategy in the current environment, having access to the real-time data and analysis to support those conversations is crucial.”
Key takeaways:
· Chief among their concerns is the economic impact of tariffs introduced by the U.S. government (81% of directors cite this as a risk), while they also identify supply chain challenges (48%) and inflation and currency fluctuations (48%) as sources of growing unease.
· 42% of directors feel that increasing the frequency of their board’s strategy and risk conversions should be a top priority, while 35% emphasize the importance of real-time data and risk analysis through better deployment of technology such as artificial intelligence.
· Other key measures identified by directors to mitigate risk include ongoing training and education for board members (28%) and access to new or improved benchmarking data (26%), while more than one in five would like to see more regular communication with senior management and an increase in the number of voices present in the boardroom.
