A permanent guest who is not on any invite list

Supervisory and advisory boards are of great importance to the success of the company, but they are constantly exposed to conflicts of interest.

Expectations are high. Members of the Supervisory and Advisory Board must be independent from the Board of Directors or management, act with integrity, ethics and responsibility, and embody decency, backbone and solidity. That's what managing directors, board members, company owners, supervisory and advisory boards, CEOs and freelancers say, which Marketagent recently surveyed in collaboration with Board Search. Personal skills top the rankings, followed by “hard” criteria such as technical and financial competence.

Constant conflict of interest

Finally, 85% also say that supervisory and advisory boards are very or rather important for the success of the company, and 88% consider that incorrect decisions made by these supervisory bodies are very or rather sustainable. But what is unpleasant is that there is a guest who is constantly present at supervisory and advisory board meetings and is never on the invite list, says Joseph Fritz, Managing Partner at Board Search: Conflicts of Interest. 60% of them witnessed such conflicts at least sometimes.