Columns
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The Board’s Strategic Role in Operationalizing Innovation
- When AI Algorithms Control Earnings Reactions
- Point/Counterpoint: To Go Public or to Stay Private?
- Why Mergers Fail When Strategy Is 'Right'
- Transforming Governance into a Growth Strategy
- How the Board Can Get the COO Position Right
- Beyond ROI: A Conversation with Purvee Kondal
- Onboarding
Director Advisory
- Human Capital Governance and the Compensation Committee’s Remit
- Strengthening Board Engagement as Volatility Tests Strategy
- Four Overlooked AI Signals Every Director Should Watch
- A Mid-Cycle Guide for Compensation Committees
- How Boards Influence Successful Carve-Outs
- The Hidden Costs of CEO Succession
- Governing the Convergence of AI and Cyber Risk
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Directorship Magazine
The Board’s Strategic Role in Operationalizing Innovation
Key Points
- Directors should evaluate innovation programs by outcomes—not by the volume of ideas generated, pilots launched, or start-ups funded, which measure effort.
- Corporate venture capital programs should operate under a clearly defined charter that specifies investment authority, limits, strategic objectives, and the circumstances that require board-level approval.
- Protecting long-term innovation investment from short-term financial pressure is a board responsibility, not a preference.
This AI-generated summary, based on content on this page, was reviewed by NACD editors for accuracy.
Directors are often shown innovation labs, accelerator programs, and corporate venture capital funds as evidence of innovative momentum. But the board's role is not to evaluate the existence of these programs; it is to ask harder questions about whether those investments are disciplined, aligned with strategy, and built to last.
This piece walks directors through the oversight frameworks that separate productive innovation from innovation theater. It examines what a rigorous internal innovation process requires, what every corporate venture capital charter should define, and how boards can protect long-term innovation investment when short-term financial pressure mounts.
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Heather Wishart-Smith, NACD.DC®, is a board director of Orion Energy Systems and Mead & Hunt; Forbes contributor; and advisor on strategy, leadership, and innovation. She is a licensed professional engineer and US Navy veteran.
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