ecoDa Members Forum 2023: Report
EcoDa, our European mother organization for directors, organized its annual Member forum on May 24th in Brussels. The members of different European director’s institutes gathered to exchange experiences and keep each other updated about trends in the different countries and institutions. We were very happy to welcome the Polish Institute for directors and the Ukrainian Corporate Governance Institute as aspiring members.
After an introduction, we exchanged experiences about the services, education programs and communication channels that the different institutes offer to their members. This was followed by an inspiration session on sustainability. Kris de Meyer, neuroscientist and director UCL Climate Action Unit, enlightened us on the discrepancies between the perception of climate scientists on the climate crisis and that of the financial community. The reason of these discrepancies is the different experiences and background that each one has, which create in the human brain different expectations towards the future. As a result, the risk of climate change is perceived very differently by scientists and financial analysts, from immense and unquantifiable, to controllable and quantifiable. Understanding these psychological thresholds is the key to bring both groups together in tackling the climate urgency. Marie-Bernard Guillaume, Partner and Director of Mercuri Urval, focused on the role of leaders in the sustainability transition and how a science-based approach can help in finding and keeping more effective and sustainable leadership. She identified some traps in hiring C-level executives, such as shortcutting, stereotyping or subjectivity of the assessment. She also offered a solution based on a clear definition of the profile and the selection process .
After the inspiration sessions, there was a small social gathering. It was good to see our colleagues from our sister organizations. On the European level, ecoDa helps our GUBERNA members to remain up-to-date on what changes in governance on the European level.
