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Blue Ribbon Commission / Red Flags in the Board-CEO Relationship

Blue Ribbon Commission Reports

Cover of the 2025 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission Report

Blue Ribbon Commission

Red Flags in the Board-CEO Relationship

By NACD Staff

10/13/2025

Board Culture Board-Management Relations Blue Ribbon Commission Boardroom Tool Member-Only

Complementing the guidance of the 2025 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission Report on Building a High-Trust Board-CEO Relationship, this boardroom tool provides practical guidance for implementing Recommendation #4: Commit to ongoing communications to sustain trust beyond formal meetings.

How to use this tool: Directors, the CEO, and C-suite can use this tool to benchmark their relationship against six critical dimensions and potential red flags. Based on this assessment, the board, CEO, or both can identify and implement steps to strengthen their ongoing relationship

A poor board-CEO relationship can reveal itself in many ways: via poor communications, misalignment on goals, or simply a discomfort of engaging with each other. These “red flags” in the relationship should not be ignored as they can signal larger or deeper ruptures that are ultimately suboptimizing the value and impact of an effective board-CEO dynamic.

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