Articles by

Steve Pell

Steve Pell is Managing Director at BoardOutlook, a software platform that delivers a standardised and rigorous platform for board evaluations and professional development.

Steve is a trusted advisor to boards and non-executive directors on governance matters, with specific focus on issues at the intersection between board and management. He has substantial expertise in the development and implementation of frameworks to build effective partnership between board and management on organisational strategy. He is a regular writer for the Australian Financial Review on leadership, governance and board effectiveness.

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Succession as a key pillar of value creation

Across 155 boards in the BoardOutlook 2025 benchmark pool, approximately four in ten directors (39%) name enhancing ...

by Steve Pell

The average graduate gets better feedback than the average CEO

The average graduate gets better feedback than the average CEO. Over the past decade I have put that contention to ...

by Steve Pell

Professionalising Governance in Founder-Led Businesses

What to build, what to defer Founder-led businesses that have grown organically arrive at the question of governance ...

by Steve Pell

The corruption of “psychological safety” in the boardroom

Why the most popular idea in boardroom improvement is applied backwards.

by Steve Pell

Why Good Boards Oversee Irrelevance

The dominant failure mode of governance has no villain.

by Steve Pell

The 9% Problem: Why Boards Leave Chair Succession Too Late

Chair succession is one of the clearest tests of board maturity.

by Steve Pell

The Feedback Gap: How 80% of Directors Are Flying Blind

BoardOutlook’s global data shows that only 20% of directors say their chair provides great individual feedback.

by Steve Pell

Unknown risks aren’t an excuse

Most boards say they care about future risks. And to be fair, most directors genuinely do. They didn’t join boards to ...

by Steve Pell

Beyond the BBC’s crisis: How governance failures can lead to better boards

There’s still a lot we don’t know about what happened inside the BBC boardroom - who knew what, when, and how decisions ...

by Steve Pell