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Spencer Stuart Director Pulse Surveys

Spencer Stuart’s pulse surveys of directors on public and private company boards gather timely insights on current issues shaping the boardroom agenda, highlighting the present state of corporate governance and offering observations and recommendations about the long-term evolution of boards. Each survey covers a particular topic of importance for board directors, and new surveys are published multiple times a year.

NOVEMBER 2024

Our latest pulse survey of board directors takes a close look at one of the board’s most critical jobs: CEO succession. This survey of 797 directors on U.S. public and private company boards looks at directors’ perspectives on CEO succession today and how CEO succession planning is evolving. The survey also includes almost 400 respondent comments about directors’ biggest concerns related to CEO succession planning.

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JULY 2024

For the second consecutive year, Spencer Stuart surveyed directors on how much time they are spending on their board duties. In this piece we look at some of the highlights of this latest survey, based on 751 responses from U.S. directors. 

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APRIL 2024

Our most recent director pulse survey highlights the specialized skills boards are seeking to add, the skills they have added to their boards in recent years, and the impact those directors have had on the effectiveness of the board.

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FEBRUARY 2024

Spencer Stuart's pulse survey of directors on public company boards found that a growing number of boards are using individual assessments to improve their effectiveness. They are figuring out how they fit into the larger board review process and the most effective practices for collecting and providing feedback on individual director performance. This pulse survey explores these areas.

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JUNE 2023

Planning for the future leadership of a company is among a board’s most important tasks, and Spencer Stuart’s pulse survey of 625 directors on U.S. public and private company boards found a wide range of responses about how they are approaching CEO succession. Every succession has its own complexities, and experience with one (or even a few) doesn’t always predict how the next one will unfold.

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MARCH 2023

How much time are directors spending on board obligations? Spencer Stuart’s director pulse survey found significant differences between public and private company directors in the time they spend on board activities, yet no single issue emerged as a clear winner when it came to issues deserving less time in the boardroom. 

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MARCH 2023

What, if anything, are boards doing in response to the UPC? More than 350 public company directors report on activism action planning, and nearly all reported having some sort of activism action plan. More than half gave their board’s preparedness plan high marks, and collectively the surveyed directors identified five common “activism preparedness” action steps.

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SEPTEMBER 2022

How do public and private company board directors view their current leadership structure? Our pulse survey of directors highlights these findings with responses from over 1,000 US directors. Spencer Stuart’s pulse survey of directors on public and private company boards about board leadership found strong support for the current leadership structure of their boards and mixed views on the differences between independent chairs and lead directors.

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