Board Advisory Services

Trust at the Top: The Board-CEO Relationship

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Board Advisory Services Overview

In Boardroom Education

Turn Board-CEO Trust Into a Strategic Advantage

Only 37% of CEOs believe their board has their back. With CEO tenure shrinking, activist pressure rising, and boards held to higher standards than ever, the board-CEO relationship is too important to leave to chance.

This in-boardroom education program draws directly on NACD's 2025 Blue Ribbon Commission report on building a high-trust board-CEO relationship and its accompanying 12-tool Toolkit for Action. Most boards already know what good looks like. The program gives them the intentionality, consistency, and structure to build trust through concrete behaviors. Boards that complete the program receive a certificate of completion in the organization's name that can be referenced in proxy statements.

Learning Objectives

Articulate the business case for investing in the board-CEO relationship
Identify the most common trust barriers and how to address them proactively
Clarify roles, responsibilities, and engagement expectations between the board and CEO
Apply practical tools to build and sustain trust through communications, evaluations, and executive sessions
Leverage the board’s strategic advisory role to enhance CEO performance and decision-making

Designed For

Full boards of directors of public, private, and PE-backed companies, together with the CEO. The program is designed for institutional adoption, with the certificate of completion awarded to the board as a governing body.
Board chairs, nominating and governance committee chairs, audit committee chairs, general counsel, corporate secretaries, and directors attend together, since they share accountability for the board's governance.

Key Benefits

For the Board

Align on a shared vision of an effective board-CEO partnership and leave with practical tools to close the gap between aspiration and practice.

For the CEO

Experience a board that shows up as a genuine strategic partner that is engaged, supportive, and clear on its role.

For the Organization

Turn a high-trust board-CEO relationship into a force multiplier for faster decisions, better strategy, and greater stability in times of crisis.

Practical Toolkit

Put the Blue Ribbon Commission's 12-tool Toolkit for Action to work on communications, evaluations, and executive sessions.

Available Formats

A two-hour, expert-led workshop, either in person or virtual, that aims to help the board and CEO build a high-trust relationship, including a focus on clarifying roles, communication between meetings, evaluations and executive sessions that build confidence, and the board's role as a strategic advisor. Pre-reading of the report's executive summary is recommended but not required.