Letter from the 2026 Cochairs

The cochairs of the 2026 Blue Ribbon Commission report introduce a practical framework to help boards strengthen oversight of strategy execution.

Most directors know the moment. A key performance indicator turns red. A competitor makes an unexpected move. An assumption that seemed sound is now less certain. The instinct is understandable: lean in, ask more questions, call more meetings, dig deeper into the operating details. Directors have every reason to respond this way. Competitive advantage is becoming less durable. Business models are evolving more quickly. Technology, geopolitics, regulation, and shifting stakeholder expectations are reshaping industries faster than the strategies built to meet them can deliver.

Yet that is precisely the moment when boards need a more disciplined form of engagement.

As cochairs of this year’s Blue Ribbon Commission, we heard a common question throughout our discussions: How can boards actively engage in overseeing strategy execution without crossing into management’s responsibilities? The commission concluded that the answer is not for boards to engage more but to engage more purposefully, grounded in the board’s distinct governance role. 

One way to think about that role is through an analogy to air travel. Before every flight, a destination is established, a route is selected, weather and operating conditions are evaluated, and a flight plan is filed. Gate to gate, it is the pilot and flight crew who execute that plan while responding to the conditions they encounter. Meanwhile, air traffic control serves a critical but different role.  

Controllers do not fly the aircraft, nor question every operational decision in the cockpit. They continuously monitor the broader environment, integrate information no individual pilot can fully see, communicate evolving conditions, and, when conditions require it, clear a change of route. Air traffic control remains actively engaged in overseeing the journey without ever taking the controls. 

Like every analogy, this one has its limits. For example, air traffic control oversees many aircraft, while a board works in a uniquely close partnership with a single CEO and management team. Yet we believe the comparison captures a distinction governance language often struggles to explain. Effective boards are neither passive observers nor surrogate operators. Like air traffic control, they help establish clarity before departure, maintain oversight throughout the journey, and adjust their engagement decisively when changing conditions call into question the assumptions underlying the strategy—or the route itself—while leaving execution where it belongs: with management. That distinction between oversight and execution lies at the heart of this report. 

The commission’s Align-Monitor-Calibrate framework reflects the board’s evolving oversight role throughout the life of a strategy.

• During Align, boards and management establish a common understanding of the destination, the strategy for reaching it, the assumptions on which it depends, and the signals that will reveal if execution is staying on course.
• During Monitor, management pilots the enterprise as the board maintains disciplined oversight, tracking critical assumptions, interpreting key signals, and testing management’s view of execution progress.
• During Calibrate, when changing conditions suggest the original route may no longer be optimal, the board and management work together to determine whether the organization should stay the course, adjust its path, or establish a new direction, while maintaining their distinct roles in oversight and execution. 

The strongest governance is rarely defined by dramatic interventions; it is defined by the discipline of continuous awareness, sound judgment, and timely course correction. 

The Commission’s recommendations are intended to strengthen that discipline. They are not new governance processes or additional layers of board work. They offer directors a practical framework and common language to more effectively carry out their responsibilities.  

Just as a well-executed flight depends upon clarity of roles rather than duplication of responsibilities, good governance depends upon boards and management each doing their part effectively. 

We are deeply grateful to our fellow commissioners for bringing extraordinary experience, candor, and practical wisdom to this effort. Their contributions helped turn a familiar governance question into a framework that boards can apply across industries, ownership structures, and governance models.  

The journey ahead will rarely be free of turbulence. Our hope is that this report helps boards navigate those moments with greater confidence, in sync with their management teams. Not by taking the controls from management, but by exercising the disciplined oversight that enables organizations to reach their intended destination.

This Blue Ribbon Commission report represents a consensus of the commissioners’ viewpoints and reflects their support for its principal recommendations. We did not believe it necessary that each commissioner agree with every word of the report. As a group, however, the commissioners regard this report as a fair representation of their views. 

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