Stakeholders aren’t equal (and that’s the point)
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Future Directors Founder, Paul Smith
ONE THING is for the busy (speak of the devil) Future Director, in which we pick just one thing Future Directors oughta know or do or stew on for the next month. We hope you get something (at least one thing) out of it.
Last month, I wrote about the overlooked dimensions of duty of care, especially the need to care for your fellow directors and yourself. If you missed it, you can read it here.
This time, I want to stick with that idea of stakeholders and your duty of care to them (as board directors)...but zoom out a bit. Because there’s something I see all the time in boardrooms: we talk about “stakeholders” like they’re one big happy family. A big group we owe some kind of duty to.
Spoiler: The truth is… they’re not all equal. And that’s actually ok.
We’ve all seen how messy real decision-making is. You can’t please everyone, and sometimes, what’s good for one group might be pretty awful for another. That’s governance. That’s life. But the problem is when boards don’t talk about trade-offs decisions, they just make them. Unconsciously.
This is why every board needs to move beyond vague stakeholder awareness and into something more structured and intentional: mapping, prioritising, and interrogating stakeholder relationships in context.
So here’s a way to shift that. It’s an exercise I learned from board expert Matt Fullbrook, and it’s become one of my favourites because of how simple and revealing it is. Having seen this in action with clients, it’s guaranteed to spark better conversations in your boardroom.
Stakeholder Mapping Exercise…
Step 1: List your stakeholders
Together, make a long list of anyone and everyone who is affected by or influences your company.
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