How trust is earned in practice
Real-world perspectives. Better boardroom decisions.
From compressed time horizons to cyber accountability and AI oversight, these perspectives show how boards navigate complexity when there’s no precedent.
AI accountability, human capital, and the discipline of preparation
Joe Hurd argues that AI now sits inside the board’s decision rhythm — pricing, hiring, capital allocation — and that boards need an audit trail to justify those decisions to a regulator or a litigator. He draws a clean line of responsibility: the board sets the principles, management sets the policy, and the board audits one against the other.
He also reframes workforce and human capital as a governance issue rather than an HR one, and makes the case that the strongest boards build readiness long before a crisis arrives.
Activism, crisis readiness, and “trust but verify”
A veteran of restructuring and turnaround situations, Brian Kushner makes the case that defensible boards earn trust by verifying it — engaging shareholders continuously rather than meeting them for the first time in an activist’s letter, and treating activists’ arguments as often containing real, useful points.
He is direct about crisis readiness: the time to rehearse the communications playbook is not at 2 a.m. when a cyber incident hits. The script, the contacts, and the people who know how to run it should be staged in advance.
The accelerating cyber clock and using AI responsibly
Kathryn Henry reflects on a nontraditional route to the boardroom and the conviction that earned her seat: the experiences that shaped her judgment are exactly why she belongs in the room. She warns that the cyber and AI risk clock now moves in months, not five-year increments, and that boards have to shift from reactivity to a far more proactive stance.
She is pointed about the risk boards create themselves — putting sensitive board materials into consumer AI tools — and argues the answer is educating boards on how to use AI responsibly, not avoiding it.
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What’s rising to the top of board agendas in 2026
Across boardrooms, attention is converging around a small set of questions — where growth will come from, how technology changes risk, and what oversight needs to tighten first. These highlights reflect peerlevel signals drawn from What Directors Think 2026.
How are boards prioritizing growth and AI in 2026?
Growth strategies center on M&A and strategic partnerships (40%), deploying AI across the business (38%) and expanding into new products or markets (38%).
Capital is flowing in the same direction, with technology adoption and integration ranked as the top investment focus for 42% of boards, ahead of M&A and market expansion.
How is AI changing the board agenda and skills mix?
Which risks are shaping boardroom decisionmaking?
Where do boards see the biggest gaps in risk and compliance oversight?
How are boards evolving human capital and succession oversight?
