XYZ Pharma is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in France, operating with direct offices in 35 countries and having approved drugs in 120 countries. It has been a public company since 2005. With company sales of 3.5 B€ and an operational result of 900 M€, the company has more than 7.000 employees worldwide. The company sales were growing a 2% last year. The company board consists of 14 directors, 10 men and 4 women, and has typically 10 meetings during the year. In 2020 a new CEO, Mr Legrand, was appointed by the board to lead the business transformation. Mr Legrand had to ensure the company’s sustainable growth and innovation strategy that delivers long-term value while fostering an internal culture based on entrepreneurship and agility and promoting patient-centric products and services. The company’s share price has risen by 15% over the last 6 months. 

I met the Chair of the Board (President du Conseill d’Administration), Mr Solis, weeks after the new CEO was appointed. Among the reasons to select the new CEO, Mr Legrand,  was his vision about how an international pharma company must be financial, social, and environmentally sustainable and promote a culture of excellence where integrity, diversity, and respect for different opinions are valued. The board of directors is committed to actively contributing to the company’s transformation by introducing changes in the governance process aligned with the company’s additional needs.

The first meeting with Mr Solis and 3 Ethics and Governance Committee members was beneficial for the project preparation. The meeting started focusing on how the board is helping the CEO and management team regarding three key strategies:

1- Increasing the efforts in R&D to generate more value;

2- Digital transformation of industrial processes to be more efficient and sustainable;

3- Using technology to develop a culture of collaboration and positive links to the community and society.

Besides supporting the management, I stressed that the board must define its own governance transformation goals and priorities aligned with its purpose and strategy. During the conversation, we agreed to work in the following directions: regarding strategy 1, more participation of the board increasing contributions of the company to the environment and society; regarding strategy 2: more implication of the board in the talent development and ethical issues related to the digital transformation, including the adoption of AI; regarding strategy 3: role of the board in developing technology to promote more equalitarian and inclusive culture in the company.

Finally, a joint meeting with the chairman of the board and the CEO was an opportunity to clarify details about the GB transformation model. Introducing experiential components in the governance process will generate a profound change and boost the board to its potential level.

I was attending as an observer a board meeting. The meeting was held for three hours in a meeting room in the company’s offices in Paris. The agenda was quite tided, and finally, not all the topics were discussed, and some left for the next meeting. The initial meeting agenda had a good balance of issues, but the way they addressed the different sections was very inflexible: long presentation of the topic,  proposal, Q&A, voting. While this traditional way of conducting discussions can be effective for fiduciary issues, creativity, diversity of viewpoints, and even confrontation are needed when the board proposes significant changes. If we want to boost the board to its maximum expression and performance, we need to start by transforming the traditional processes.

I prepared a draft of the project: an identification of significant goals, methods, additional elements to be introduced in the meetings and between meetings, a proposal for the training session and a proposal for the first GB meeting. The proposal was discussed and refined with the Chair and the Ethics and Governance Committee members. We introduced a few changes, and the first version of the project was ready to go for the following steps: the training session and the first GB meeting.

We organized the training session close to Paris, in a space open to nature, surrounded by a beautiful forest. During the training session, we presented and experienced the GB model. We put physical, emotional, intellectual, social and purpose related components into practice. The training started with a “to know and be known” activity. It is sometimes amazing how little the members of boards know about each other and how important it is to foster this mutual understanding. Identifying priorities for the board was the central topic addressed while using the GB method. The meeting was very engaging, and very positive energy was present during the three hours of the training session.

We held the first Generative Board Meeting one month later.

We held two more GB meetings in other inspiring locations in France during the following year. The result at the end of a year of working together is a boosted transformation process, a board more responsive to additional needs and efficient support to the CEO and the management aligned to the company’s purpose and strategy. Board meetings are more dynamic and engaging, learning is a continuous process, and onboarding of new members is now more agile.