How Boards Are Changing the Way They Work in 2025

When it comes to forecasting the future, leading indicators can provide executives, policymakers, and other market participants insight as they set a direction and choose a course of action. Taking the US economy as an example, data points such as gross domestic product growth rates, consumer confidence metrics, housing starts, and retail sales figures all help shine a light on potential future economic performance and inform business planning.

At the EY Center for Board Matters, we uncovered something similar in the board domain by asking directors where they would like to spend more time, and where they want more information and resources, in the year ahead. In the same way that leading economic indicators help CEOs navigate business cycles, these leading engagement indicators suggest how boardroom agendas might change in the coming year and point to the areas in which management teams can anticipate more questions from directors.

So, what leading board engagement indicators are we seeing this year?

Where Boards Want More Time and Information

The EY Americas Board Priorities 2025 survey revealed that innovation and evolving technologies, cybersecurity and data privacy, the talent agenda, and climate change and environmental stewardship are the top areas where boards want to spend more time in the coming year. These are also areas where boards are seeking more information and resources to help carry out their oversight responsibilities. Interestingly, these areas do not fully align with the topics boards said they would prioritize this year. For example, economic conditions and capital strategy topped the list of directors’ 2025 board priorities, but they rank at the bottom in the chart below. This is an indication that directors believe their current board agenda time and the resources and information they receive are, generally, sufficient to support effective oversight of these very important priorities.

Source: Americas Board Priorities 2025, EY Americas Center for Board Matters

The chart signals several ways in which board agendas and dialogue are likely to shift this year, which include the following:

• Board members will continue to keep pace with fast-moving issues that are driving transformation. The topics where directors want to invest more time and have more resources—emerging technologies, aspects of innovation, and cybersecurity—are not new issues for boards, but they are evolving rapidly and changing the competitive landscape for many companies. They are also topics on which some directors may have less direct personal experience to draw from. The survey results suggest that board members understand the impact these topics will have on strategy and the need to build their knowledge, stay informed, and have regular dialogue; a once- or twice-per-year agenda item on technology, innovation, and cybersecurity is no longer enough. Some of our clients’ boards are requesting deep-dive education sessions or updates scheduled outside regular board and committee meetings so that they can fully explore these issues. Board members’ comfort with video calls has made these off-cycle dedicated sessions much easier to schedule.
• Directors will seek ways to get work done differently to maximize their effectiveness. While board members want more time for technology, cybersecurity, talent, and climate issues on the agenda, that doesn’t mean that more time will be easily available. Leading boards will evolve the way they work to dive deeper into these key areas, such as by investing less board meeting time in management presentations and more in strategic discussion. They may seek different kinds of information and interpretation from management, as well as briefings from external advisors, and integrate these topics into broader discussions of strategy and risk.
• Board members will maintain a focus on risk appetite as they guide their companies in balancing the upside and downside of risk. While CEOs are generally optimistic heading into 2025, the fact remains that boards will be overseeing high-stakes strategic decisions and investments in an environment characterized by constant changes in geopolitics, macroeconomics, and regulation. In this context, determining the appropriate level of risk the company is prepared to take to drive growth, innovation, and competitive advantage is crucial. In our past work with directors, the EY Center for Board Matters found board members expressing concern about a lack of alignment with management on this point. Specifically, How Today’s Boards Are Transforming for Tomorrow found that directors expressed relatively low confidence in their alignment with management on both short- and long-term risk appetite. Remedying any such disconnects will be a priority for both board members and leadership teams.

Board members can consider the following questions:

• Where does the board need more or different information from management and external advisors to enhance oversight?
• How might board or committee agendas need to change to enable appropriate time for open discussion on emerging topics and forward-looking issues? What opportunities exist to help keep directors informed on fast-moving topics between scheduled meetings?
• What is the level of alignment between the board and members of management on how much risk the company can and should afford to take on? What processes are in place to accelerate innovation and encourage appropriate risk-taking within established risk tolerances?

The results of the Americas Board Priorities 2025 survey also offer an opportunity for further reflection: Which of the leading engagement indicators reflected in the chart above will be most important for your board in the year ahead? With the pace of change unlikely to slow down, directors have tremendous opportunity to help management navigate through uncertainty and maintain focus on long-term value creation.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP or other members of the global EY organization.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not represent the perspective of NACD.

The EY organization is a NACD sponsor, providing directors with critical and timely information, and perspectives. The EY organization is a financial supporter of the NACD.

Robyn Bew draws on her long career in the corporate governance space to provide strategic direction for the EY Center for Board Matters and in working with board members and executives on a range of governance and strategy issues.