Survey Analysis: Board-CEO Relationship

Discover findings from the NACD 2025 Private Company Board Practices and Oversight Survey related to the board-CEO relationship. The data was gathered from directors and others who serve the boards of privately held companies. Access the full survey here.

Key Insights

CEOs and management teams are facing a dynamic and uncertain business environment driven by economic, technological, societal, regulatory, and geopolitical trends. Against this backdrop, nearly half (48.9%) of private company respondents noted that the board’s scrutiny of CEO performance has increased over the past three years. Looking deeper at the board’s expectations of the CEO roles, the highest increases were in the areas of driving company performance, developing strategy, managing risk, stewarding talent and culture, and championing technology innovation.

Despite the growing pressures on CEO and company leadership, more than one-third (37.5%) of private company respondents felt that the current business environment has had an overall positive effect on the board-CEO relationship. Just over half (55%) felt the effect was neither positive nor negative.

Looking more closely at the board-CEO relationship, 56 percent of the respondents gave the board-CEO relationship an “A” grade and 37 percent gave it a “B” grade (on a scale of “A - Excellent” to “F - Failing”).

How would you grade the strength of your board-CEO relationship?

Source: 2025 NACD Private Company Board Practices and Oversight Survey, n=167-168

The board-CEO relationship matters. More than 60 percent of the respondents who rated their relationship as “A - Excellent” noted that it has an “extremely positive” effect on CEO effectiveness and on the health of the board culture. And more than 50 percent noted the “extremely positive” effect on the management culture and organizational performance.

Impact of Excellent Board-CEO Relationships on Other Areas

Q:  What impact do you believe the quality of your board-CEO relationship has on the following areas?
Percentages may be +/- 100 due to rounding.

Source: 2025 NACD Private Company Board Practices and Oversight Survey, n=93

Looking within the board-CEO relationship, respondents gave higher ratings to the aspects of mutual trust, candid communications, and strategic alignment on the future of the business. But around one-quarter of respondents rated the relationship as “fair”, “poor” or “failing” in the aspects of agility of decision-making (25%) and clarity expectations (27%).

While many respondents were able to give the board-CEO relationship positive grades, there are challenges in building and sustaining the board-CEO relationship due to unclear role delineation, unclear expectations, and ineffective information flow. (See below.)

Biggest Challenges in Building and Sustaining an Effective Board-CEO Relationship

Q: What are the biggest barriers to building and sustaining an effective board-CEO relationship?
(Please select all that apply.)

Source: 2025 NACD Private Company Board Practices and Oversight Survey, n=76

Why It Matters

Private company structures can vary widely, from family-owned to private equity-backed companies, and private companies face very different governance and reporting requirements than public companies. However, regardless of company structure or the board composition, the board-CEO relationship has an impact on the performance of the CEO, management team, and the board.

A robust relationship enhances decision-making and board effectiveness, and fosters a more agile, cohesive, and resilient leadership team that is capable of navigating change and driving long-term value. Further, a strong board-CEO relationship enables the CEO to use the directors as a “sounding board” for key decisions or challenges.

Both boards and CEOs need to recognize the importance of the relationship and ensure it is reinforced by effective governance practices.

What Boards Should Do

Private company directors should look for opportunities to improve boardroom processes that will support the board-CEO relationship. As noted above, common challenges can include unclear role delineation or unclear expectations. These can inject friction in the relationship. Investing time to explicitly define how the board and CEO will work together will yield dividends. For example, mapping processes and timing around strategy-setting and determining how and when the board will engage will enable directors to provide the right input at the right time.

Another critical action is to take steps to invest in building a relationship. One-on-one calls or meetings between the CEO and directors help each understand areas of expertise and build a sustained connection. Directors can consider if and how they are making themselves available for the CEO or the management team. The goal is a working relationship based on trust, clarity of expectations, candid communications, and a mutual commitment to the organization’s performance.

For additional guidance on this topic, read the 2025 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission report on the board-CEO relationship, which will be released in October 2025.

Explore more related data below, or return to the 2025 NACD Private Company Board Practices and Oversight Survey.