Boardroom Blind Spot: Why People & Culture is the Key Ingredient to Combat Complacency and Drive Success

Vintage moves won’t slay the modern groove – Why Practical Expertise in People & Culture Is a Critical Competency for Boards

Most startups struggle with a fundamental challenge: getting the right people and managers in the right positions at the right time, and ensuring that as many as possible can make the journey from startup to scale-up, to a mature phase, and finally into becoming a truly great business. In reality, the business idea or strategy is rarely the single ingredient for success. The daily grind, execution, organisational design, and  the experience, intuition, and know-how to move the people and the organisation forward – these are elements that often make or break a company. Yet this skill set remains scarily scarce in most boards of directors (BODs).

Diagnosing problems is something most lead teams and boards can do, but, taking the prescribed medicine to avoid complacency or “more of the same” is where the real challenge lies. Building on what’s working while mustering the courage and stamina to try something new – to achieve better results – is a rare trait. So, where are your behavioral experts in your boardrooms? If you’re serious about driving returns, future-proofing your organisation, and challenging your executive team in areas where they are often weakest, start with this.

Yesterday’s drip won’t flex in tomorrow’s fit, Master Change Management

Change management is the backbone of every strategic pivot, whether it’s embracing sustainability, embedding new technologies, or redefining organisational purpose. Exec teams often rely heavily on external consultants, and boards on the executives or functional leaders to guide these transitions, but what happens when the guidance itself lacks the foundational understanding of human behavior, organisational psychology, and cultural transformation?

Practical expertise in People & Culture equips boards with:

1. A clear lens on human dynamics: Understanding how people respond to uncertainty, new ways of working, or shifts in purpose ensures that strategies are not only designed but also embraced and executed effectively.
2. Insight into culture’s role in execution: The best strategies fail without a culture that supports their execution. Boards with People & Culture expertise can assess whether the organisational culture aligns with the strategy and guide interventions when it doesn’t.
3. Empathy for the workforce’s challenges: As organisations transform, the workforce’s ability to adapt becomes the linchpin. Boards need the tools to ask the right questions and push for investments in upskilling, reskilling, and wellbeing to ensure sustainable performance.
4. Know the business and the people: Building rapport, trust, and speed are gained and tough love can be practiced. Real development and growth come with challenges and in some cases even pain. To effectively guide and support you must understand and know the business theory, the product, and the individuals behind it.

The Accelerating Impact of AI and the Role of Boards

As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes industries, the need for board-level People & Culture competence becomes even more pronounced. AI presents unprecedented opportunities but also significant challenges: displacement of roles, ethical dilemmas, and the need to redefine entire functions and purposes. In this context, the board’s ability to prioritise People, Product, and Profitability in that order, is crucial.

Why that order? Because it is people who will:

• Redefine the purpose of roles and functions displaced or transformed by AI.
• Repurpose existing systems and processes to integrate AI responsibly.
• Reskill themselves and others to harness AI’s potential.

Boards must not only ensure that AI strategies are technically sound and profitable but also that they are human-centric. This requires fostering trust, transparency, and fairness – all pillars of a strong People & Culture foundation.

Yesterday’s Grind Won’t Secure Tomorrow’s Shine – People & Culture in Every Business Phase

It’s a misconception that People & Culture expertise is only relevant at certain stages of a company’s journey, such as scaling or periods of financial strain. In reality, every phase – from early growth to mature operations – requires this competency:

• Startups: Establishing a culture that attracts and retains top talent and aligns with the founder’s vision.
• Scaling: Managing the complexities of rapid growth, often across geographies and cultural contexts.
• Maturity: Driving efficiency, engagement, and retention while responding to external challenges like regulatory changes or industry disruption.
• Transformation: Redefining purpose, embedding sustainability, or shifting to digital-first operations.

Without a board equipped to guide these transitions, no matter how great your HR team is, organisations risk stalling their progress or, worse, alienating their most important asset: their people. Because, this area is not usually the CEO’s, CFO’s, CRO’s, or CPO’s forte. 

What got us lit won’t keep us blazing

As highlighted in my HR predictions for 2025, organisations must recognise that the future of work is being shaped by three key trends:

1. AI and automation: Creating roles and career paths that didn’t exist before.
2. Employee wellbeing: Balancing productivity with human-centric policies and practices.
3. Purpose-driven organisations: Attracting talent by aligning business goals with societal impact.

At Spotify, our approach has been to empower people as the cornerstone of a relevant culture for every specific phase. Whether it’s through initiatives like the shift in org design, new ways of working, Wellness Week or our focus on fostering innovation through collaboration and control, we’ve seen firsthand how a people-first strategy drives resilience, growth, and the opposite of a change-averse organisation. 

Yesterday’s Map Won’t Navigate Tomorrow’s Terrain

To remain relevant and effective, boards must broaden their focus beyond traditional competencies and embrace practical expertise in People & Culture. This shift is not a “nice-to-have” but a necessity in navigating the complex and fast-paced changes of the modern world. It’s time for boards to:

1. Prioritize people skills in BOD – in all phases, but more so in the start-up and mature phases 
2. Recruit BOD members with real-world experience in leading cultural and organisational change
3. Embrace the role of change management skills as a central boardroom priority

The future belongs to organisations that can adapt – and adaptation begins with people. By embedding People & Culture expertise at the highest levels, boards will be creating a lasting impact in a world that demands constant reinvention. This means not only combatting death by inexperienced founders, but also complacency. Last year’s heat won’t fuel next year’s fire.