The Chairmans Club - How We Operate
How We Operate
The two key tasks of top corporate leaders are to position the business portfolio for maximum security and optimum earnings growth in the future, and to develop the most effective management ethos, structure and talent to make it happen.
It helps to have access to unusual sources of information about new risks and opportunities and as much detachment as possible from the complex legacy of attitudes and systems which historically shape internal cultures.
The aim of the Club is to provide members with different windows through which they can test assumptions and search for fresh angles in ways which are rarely possible inside a company, however sophisticated its internal machinery.
We do this through continuous networking and interaction at:-
- ‘internal’ meetings, restricted to members, designed to share peer group experience and insights on the softer, ‘people’ issues of Boards, leadership and governance
- ‘special’ meetings, to which outside guests are invited, to explore new and substantive forces in external contexts
- newsletters written to provide new perspectives on the eternally recurring themes of leadership and organizational effectiveness as fresh events demand new responses
Meetings take place about 8 times a year over lunch or at the end of the working day. They are entirely confidential and are designed to be user friendly. Agendas are set by the members. Meetings are planned well in advance, short in duration, and chaired so as to ensure they are both rigorous and relaxed. Outstanding personalities are selected to introduce and provoke Club discussions.
The Club is guided by an Advisory Council comprising leading figures from industry, finance and government with extensive experience of different regions of the world. A panel of Special Advisers provides access to leading edge thinking and thinkers in areas that increasingly shape business agendas. Corporate Renewal Associates provides executive and administrative support as required.
Global perspective and participation has always been a feature of the Club and the opportunity is now being explored to establish ongoing links with different geographies where there is a clear mutual benefit from association. A current priority is to link members in London with counterpart heads of companies in India in a ‘sister’ organization, The Chairmans Club India. Development into other geographies is planned for a later date.