Board Advisory Services
Trust at the Top: The Board-CEO Relationship
In Boardroom Education
Turn Board-CEO Trust Into a Strategic Advantage
Only 37% of CEOs believe their board has their back. With CEO tenure shrinking, activist pressure rising, and boards held to higher standards than ever, the board-CEO relationship is too important to leave to chance.
This in-boardroom education program draws directly on NACD's 2025 Blue Ribbon Commission report on building a high-trust board-CEO relationship and its accompanying 12-tool Toolkit for Action. Most boards already know what good looks like. The program gives them the intentionality, consistency, and structure to build trust through concrete behaviors.
Learning Objectives
- Articulate the business case for investing in the board-CEO relationship
- Identify the most common trust barriers and how to address them proactively
- Clarify roles, responsibilities, and engagement expectations between the board and CEO
- Apply practical tools to build and sustain trust through communications, evaluations, and executive sessions
- Leverage the board’s strategic advisory role to enhance CEO performance and decision-making
Designed For
- Full boards of directors of public, private, and not-for-profit companies.
- Board chairs, nominating and governance committee chairs, audit committee chairs, general counsel, corporate secretaries, and directors attend together, since they share accountability for the board's governance.
Available Formats
A two-hour, expert-led workshop, either in person or virtual, that aims to help the board and CEO build a high-trust relationship, including a focus on clarifying roles, communication between meetings, evaluations and executive sessions that build confidence, and the board's role as a strategic advisor. Pre-reading of the report's executive summary is recommended but not required.