Sounding Board

Upon returning home to Malaysia at the end of 2019, Jenifer Thien decided to pursue a board career on top of her advisory work at Grit and Pace, an outfit she established to support organisations in their pursuit of growth. But for someone who had been abroad for 16 years, finding board opportunities here in Malaysia was not as easy. In this episode of the Sounding Board podcast, Jenifer Thien discusses her journey to securing her first board appointment and her thoughts on being a leader in today’s landscape. 

Following the launch of the Malaysian Board Practices Review 2020, an initiative by ICDM in collaboration with Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA) and Bursa Malaysia, we take a deep dive into some of the findings and explore what needs to change for boards to enhance effectiveness and build long-lasting stakeholder confidence and trust. Alvin Chiang, Board and CEO Advisory Consultant at Russell Reynolds Associates joins our president & CEO, Michele Kythe Lim, and Nadia S Hassan, producer and senior broadcast journalist at The Edge, to discuss how Malaysian boards identify independent director candidates, how they evaluate their performance and boards' overall approach towards leadership development.

In the past month, corporate governance (CG) issues have been making headlines at home and abroad, from the rising intensity of shareholder activism on ESG concerns to spotlight on board competency and independence in mitigating operational and reputational risks. In this episode, Pankaj C Kumar, an independent director, trainer, columnist, and corporate & economic analyst, joins our president & CEO, Michele Kythe Lim, and Nadia S Hassan to reflect on these CG concerns. They discuss some of the measures boards and companies can adopt to avoid such situations.

The arrival of Covid-19 vaccines may offer some semblance of order. However, for many companies, the chaos of transformation is far from over. In this episode, Datuk Mohd Radzif Yunus, Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) Chair of KPJ Healthcare Berhad, shares his thoughts with Michele Kythe Lim, President & CEO of ICDM, on the board’s role in delivering change. They discuss how the board can challenge itself to improve its capacity to capture opportunities, especially during these crucial transitional moments.