A new breed of director is emerging and desperately required for the organisations of the future.
First and foremost, these directors see their moral obligation to serve. There may be an element of financial and personal reward but the overriding motivation is service. To serve is to be subservient to a higher cause than ourselves, in this case the purpose and intentions of the organisation. This provides the moral compass for dealing with many of the tricky issue that boards face and minimises the common internal board conflicts around self-interest.

The skills of a director go no where if they aren’t propelled by core service-driven character, capabilities and understanding.

The Agile Director is purposeful. They seek to understand and shape the core reason of existence for the company and become guardians of purpose, telling the story of the company to others and using it to guide decision making. This naturally makes them highly accountable for the promises made by the organisation to stakeholders - current and future.

The Agile Director is obviously agile. They anticipate change and adapt when it arrives. It is not so much predictive as pattern sensing; sniffing the wind for a change in the air.

The Agile Director is inclusive and collaborative. They don't push away difference discomfort or dissonance. They embrace it to build something better and to align the players - inside and outside the boardroom. They hunt in a pack drawing on and contributing to the strengths of the team, not ranging lone wolf like, to hunt alone.

The Agile Director is learning until the last breath.