Quotes from Bob Garratt

The test of a first-class mind is the ability to hold two opposing views simultaneously and still be able to operate. F. Scott Fitzgerald

If the board is not taking the company purposefully into the future, who is?

Direction-givers need a 'brain-on', rather than a hands-on attitude.

asking discerning questions is a key directoral skill, and the wish to ask them a necessary attitude.

Directors need to be happy constructively questioning and criticizing each other,

The key point is that independence of thought is demanded of all directors when on a board.

The traditional joke stereotype of the board is 'the unworthy appointed by the unwilling for the unnecessary'.

values must be backed up by observable directoral and managerial actions or they will remain simply an aspiration.

For organizations to survive and grow, their rate of learning has to be equal to, or greater than, the rate of change in their environment.

Risk is essential to an enterprise. If we had full knowledge of the future there would be no risk.

the eternal values of effective corporate governance – accountability, probity and transparency – keep on shining as brightly in this naughty world.