How to serve on a third sector board | Susan Boster in conversation with Ed Williams

Ed is President, International at Edelman, the world’s largest communications firm, overseeing the firm’s 28-country markets across Latin America, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. He specialises in strategic communications with a focus on geopolitical issues, advising institutional leaders in both the private and public sectors.

Active in civil society, Ed is an executive board member of the Institute of StrategicDialogue (ISD), a global leader in combating extremism, hate, and disinformation through research and policy solutions. He also serves on the US Board of the Aspen Institute, chairs Aspen UK, and was previously a trustee of the Woolf Institute.

Before joining Edelman, Ed sat on the management board of the BBC as Communications Director and was Group Corporate Affairs Director at Reuters, where he also served on the management board. He began his career in television journalism as a News Editor and Producer, covering significant events, including the Northern Ireland Troubles.

He has an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Art following, is an Honorary Fellow of Goldsmiths University, and a graduate of Harvard Business School’s AMP programme. He is a Visiting Fellow at The Institute of Management Studies, and is a frequent speaker at global events, including the World Economic Forum. 

What boards, private and non-profit, do you currently sit on, and which have you sat on in the past?

In no particular order: I'm the Chairman of the Aspen Institute in the UK, and I, ex officio, sit on the US board of the Aspen Institute, as well; I am on the executive board of the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, which is the world’s most respected counter- dis-and misinformation think tank, and I sit on the board of the Woolf Institute at the University of Cambridge.

I've just left the board of the Royal College of Art, after almost 10 years. I did two and a half terms there, and I sat on the nominations committee that appointed the new Chairman, Sir Peter Bazalgette, and the Provost, Professor Christoph Lindner. I've also been on the advisory board for International Crisis Group, and on the board of the English National Ballet. So [my non-executive career] has principally revolved around geopolitics, current affairs, and arts and culture. 

I am often in a for-profit board environment via the work I do with clients, or in an advisory role. 

In what ways do non-profit boards challenge your thinking differently from the kind of for-profit advisory you give?

Non-profit boards are fundamentally oriented around delivering public value. As a result, much of the board-level discussion centres on how effectively that value is being created and what impact it is having. Are they truly making a difference in the areas they were established to address?

That might mean creating and sustaining a space where great art can be performed and experienced. It might involve expanding public understanding of a particular issue. Or it could be about ensuring that public policy is better informed and shaped by evidence.

What I find particularly compelling is how deeply invested these boards are in the substance of what they deliver. The conversations tend to focus squarely on mission fulfilment, impact and contribution, and on ensuring the organisation is meaningfully advancing its purpose.

What prompted you to begin serving on non-profit boards?

I do these things for a number of reasons. The first is that I'm very curious about the world. I like to be at the table with people from different backgrounds, with diverse points of view, discussing and debating issues that have public value and public benefit. Being plugged into that and being part of that mix is something that I personally value. 

Secondly, as an executive in my own right, I know that I can always learn from those public boards. I think about the way that the Royal College of Art has been chaired, for example, first by Gail Rebuck and now by Sir Peter Bazalgette. As an executive, I've learned a huge amount from watching those Chairs in action. They both bring commercial and PLC board experience themselves, so seeing how they manage the agendas of those boards, their ability to focus on the right things at the right time, and their attention to detail is something that I personally got a lot of benefit out of, from a career development point of view. 

I was a journalist in the 1990s in newspapers and television, so I've always had a big fear of missing out. I like to be in the mix of things, and I'm very curious about what's going on in the world. My interests around current affairs, geopolitics, and arts and culture also stem from my background, which has meant that these boards are interesting places for me to be. Particularly for people who come from a commercial, P&L-driven world, there's always a lot to learn from spending time in an environment that is non-profit.

Are there specific practices from for-profit governance that you feel should be more widely adopted across non-profit boards?

Rigour around operations, and rigour around numbers. Operational performance is just as important whether you're a museum, an academic institution, an arts organisation or a small think tank. It’s important because it's about the delivery of what you do. I wouldn't say the big [organisations] suffer from this as much, because scale allows them to bring in the right partners for finance and operations, but sometimes I think these organisations have not paid sufficient attention to operational rigour, operational efficiency and effectiveness. That is something that for-profit executives can bring to non-profit boards. I think that is also true around finance and the management of income. 

I think the other area where for-profit expertise can support non-profit organisations is around a much more systematic way of thinking about stakeholders. Think about the world of development and how you go out, in a very systematic and methodical way, to figure out who the potential financial supporters for an organisation are. What's the overlap between what you do and what they're interested in? How do you build a relationship over time to demonstrate the value that you can bring to them and to their interests? And then, how do you turn that into a deeper relationship beyond just financial giving? That whole process of stakeholder management is something that you see all the time in the for-profit world.

What about lessons from the non-profit world that could be applied to the private sector?

In the non-profit world, you're often dealing with people who are deeply passionate about what they do and care enormously, and they care because of the value that the organisation delivers. I think bringing that compelling passion from a non-profit to a for-profit [context] is quite interesting. Often, for-profit boards will be talking about finance, operational metrics, or acquisition strategy. But talking about the public purpose of the organisation - what it delivers and how, or what its relationship with customers, partners or clients is - is a really important agenda item for for-profit organisations. That, to me, is something that could be pulled from one sector to the other.

If you're running the Royal Opera House or the British Museum, you've got to really care about public value and public purpose of what you exist to do, and that should inform a lot of the decision-making at the board level. It is true that if you're on the board of a private company, especially a PLC, you are offering value to a different kind of stakeholder; but I do think that there are lessons from non-profit boards that for-profit board members could learn from around purpose.

Edelman’s Trust Barometer has consistently shown that trust in business is increasing while trust in NGOs has decreased over the past few years. How has that impacted your approach to your role as a board member in both contexts?

What's really interesting about the Trust Barometer is that, essentially, no single institution can deliver against the big problems that we face in the world on its own. While it's true that business is considered more competent, and trusted, than other institutions, and actually ranks higher on ethics than government and media (and, in some countries, NGOs), it is also the case that business can't do everything itself. And Edelman’s research makes that very clear: this is not a zero-sum world. 

The big problems that we face as a society, whether in climate, AI, national security, or misinformation, all need multi-stakeholder solutions. Businesses will need to work with civil society and governments, and we need trusted media to protect the information environment. So, I don't see it as one institution solving these problems on its own. It's about all of them. The question is, how can you bring together these different parties to solve problems in a more effective way than they would on their own? 

There is definitely an onus on business to do more, and to create an environment in which some of these polarising issues can be surfaced and discussed. [We talked more about] the role that business can play as a trust broker in the Trust Barometer this year, because A) it's the most trusted institution and B) the employer-employee relationship is the most trusted relationship. So, there is a really important role for business to play in seeking to bring different parties together to debate and discuss some of these big issues. A key point I would make [with regards to that] is around partnership. Business can't work alone.

How do you advise or mentor emerging leaders differently in non-profit versus corporate settings?

On the nonprofit boards where I serve, I am often relied upon as both a practitioner and an executive. I tend to advise those boards on reputation management issues, crisis management, and geopolitics. So the primary focus of my mentorship in a non-profit context is around building institutional muscle in the professional area I have experience as a practitioner. The secondary focus comes from my executive experience in running quite a large, complex global business – operational issues, talent issues, client issues, budget management etc. 

When it comes to my Edelman team and the corporate setting, it's much more about professional development. How do they build out capabilities that they don't currently have? What are the gaps in their experience that they need to fill? How do they deal with team issues? It's much more operational, and it's career development.

I would never be so grand as to say that I mentor people, though. I would say I support them, or coach them, and that I'm always at the end of the phone for them. 

When have you gotten it wrong and what did you learn?

The issue is not about having a fear of getting it wrong, because you will get it wrong all the time. It's about having a willingness and openness to understand that, and to learn from it, and to have a growth mindset that allows you to continue to develop as an executive, regardless of your age. 

What advice would you give to someone who's joining their first board, regardless of the sector?

Go in with an open mind and with listening ears. If you're coming from a commercial background, [the organisation] will be run in a very different way than what you’re used to, and it's easy to jump in with two big feet and say, “We should be doing it this way!” “That's wrong!” or “Why are we doing it this way?” 

The pace is different. The internal metronome needs to be different. You still need to strive for excellence - all of these organisations must have in place the right level of governance to ensure that things are done properly, done well, done ethically and responsibly and with all of the associated checks and balances. That is absolutely the case. But, I would advise that you go onto these boards with an intention to learn, not to teach. Understand that things will be done differently, and that's not necessarily wrong. Until you really understand an organisation, I don't think that you can make sweeping statements about what needs to change. 

I always remember Niall FitzGerald’s rule for executives: until you spend 100 hours with customers - talking to them on the doorstep, listening to focus groups, reading transcripts of customer feedback, etc. - you don't actually have a right to an opinion on the company. I like that, as advice. Don't jump in and be so arrogant that you think you have all the answers. Take your time, listen, observe and then engage.

Susan Boster (interviewer) is the Founder and CEO of Boster Group Ltd., an award-winning consultancy specialising in the development of innovative partnerships between global corporations, cultural institutions and social impact foundations. Current and recent clients include Disney, Meta, Gap Inc., Moët Hennessy, J.P. Morgan, Bacardi, EY, Goldman Sachs, Montblanc and the Leverhulme Trust.

Previously, as Marketing Director at Barnes & Noble and later CMO at News International, Susan oversaw the transitions of both companies to e-commerce and digital platforms, including the launch of barnesandnoble.com.

 Susan sits on the board of the Design Museum and is an Advisor to The Representation Project. She previously served as a Trustee at the Donmar Warehouse and as Vice Chair of the English National Ballet. Susan is regularly featured as a moderator and keynote speaker at conferences such as the World Economic Forum, the Cannes Festival of Creativity and CogX, where she is an Editorial Advisor. She is a Consultant Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art.