Christian Leadership Alliance

2009 National "Economic Outlook Survey" Research Results

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What's Love Got To Do With It?

Longtime CEOs and board chairs acknowledge that trust is "every leader's greatest strategic asset," and is a "key element of performance." However, despite many articles written about the subject, CEOs desiring to build trust with a newly appointed board chair are still left wondering how to do so. A closer look at what trust is, and how trust is enhanced will reveal five critical mechanisms useful to CEOs for building trust with newly appointed board chairs. While focused on the higher education context, the author offers insights and principles that are rele-vant and applicable to building trust relationships in a wide range of settings. Five practical and reflective questions are offered to help CEOs assess how they are fostering trust with their board chair. Examples from Mark Yudof's appointment to the presidency of the University of Califor-nia system and the author's interview with President Scott (a pseudonym) from a Midwestern college illustrate the theme of enhancing trust.

Establishing and maintaining trust is critical to a successful tenure as CEO.

Edward Penson, general chairman and senior scholar of Penson Associates, Inc. empha-sizes the necessity of a strong relationship between the board and president stating, "There is al-most nothing more important, in the long run, than what universities do with us and for us, and what we do with and for universities, now and in the next decade. So there is a lot at stake in the relationship between boards and their presidents" (1995, p. 3). Although the relationship between boards, and in particular the board chair, and the president (henceforth CEO) is complex and cannot be reduced to formulas for success, we know the effectiveness of executive leadership is measured by the health of these associations, so it becomes appropriate that establishing and maintaining trust is critical for a successful tenure as CEO.

Scholars disagree about what the components of trust are, however, there are five things I recommend, which consistently emerge as the most fundamental mechanisms for enhancing trust: initiating communication, frequent contact, complete candor, experience with an individ-ual, and understanding one another. Ann Die Hasselmo of the Council of Independent Colleges and Universities says this recipe for success might not be so simple stating "effective board rela-tions is a somewhat elusive concept and a mysterious challenge." While I agree "how-to" advice only works when it works, I believe these mechanisms at a minimum provoke some necessary questions for first-time and even veteran CEOs, and conclude they work together to create op-portunities for developing the CEO and board chair relationship.

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