In Uganda, there’s a saying “the cow that only follows the herd will never discover the best pasture”. Yet, many boards behave like that cow, blindly following management’s lead, nodding in agreement, and rubber-stamping decisions without question.

I once sat in a board meeting where members discussed lunch allowances more than long-term strategy. Meanwhile, the company was losing market share, its technology was outdated, and its competitors were quietly eating its lunch.

When I asked, “What is the board’s strategic direction for the next five years?” one director confidently said, “that is management’s job, we just approve.”

There lies the problem. Many Ugandan boards mistake their role for that of a spectator instead of a navigator. Read more >>

“Most corporate boards are like elevators but full of important-looking people who push buttons but do not control where the company is going.”

In Uganda, there’s an old tale about the village chief who trusted his watchmen so blindly that he never checked the gates himself. Every evening, he sat in his hut, convinced his guards had everything under control. One night, raiders walked right in, not through the main gate, but through a hole in the fence that had been growing for months. The chief’s mistake? He assumed vigilance instead of practicing it.

Most boards today are just like that chief. They assume oversight is happening because they hold meetings, review reports, and listen to management updates. But oversight is not about attending meetings but it is about seeing what’s not being said, what’s not in the report, and what management isn’t showing you. Read more >>

There is a saying “a man who builds a house must also think about the road leading to it.” A house without access becomes a prison yet many boards focus only on the “house” (shareholders) while ignoring the “road” (employees, customers, regulators, and communities).

Most directors still operate under the outdated mindset that their only duty is to shareholders. They believe if profits are up, their job is done, but today, accountability extends far beyond dividend declarations. A board that ignores its wider ecosystem is a board steering its company toward a slow but certain collapse. Read more >>

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Many years ago, in Munteme village, my grandmother had a simple rule, if the kitchen smelled bad, something was wrong. It didn’t matter how much we cleaned the floor; if the air carried the scent of something rotten, we had to find the source.

Culture in an organization works the same way. You don’t need a survey or fancy consultants to tell you something is off. Just walk into the office. Do people greet each other with energy or mumble half-hearted hellos? Does the air feel charged with purpose or weighed down by tension? You can see, hear, and even smell a company’s culture before anyone explains it. Read more >>

This thought-provoking book offers an incisive examination of corporate governance from both a historical and contemporary point of view…I highly recommend it for your useful and sustainable leadership benefit” – Michael Mugabi, Former President, Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda.