Is your board built for where the business is going, or where it's been?
We map your current board against the demands of your strategy, identify the gaps that matter, and give you a practical composition roadmap: who you need, in what order, and why.
Our members, alumni and clients come from iconic organizations
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Most boards are assembled by history, not designed for strategy
Boards typically grow one appointment at a time, a trusted contact here, an investor nominee there. The result is a group of capable individuals that was never designed as a team. When strategy shifts toward new markets, digital, AI or sustainability, the gap between the board you have and the board you need widens quietly, until a crisis or a shareholder question exposes it.
A rigorous composition review replaces anecdote with evidence: a strategy-linked skills matrix, an honest view of tenure and succession risk, and a sequenced plan for renewal that the chair can actually execute.
A composition blueprint your chair can act on
Every engagement is scoped to your board after a short brief, no off-the-shelf documents, no generic templates.
Strategy-linked skills matrix
A bespoke matrix built from your strategy, not a generic checklist, showing current coverage, depth, and single-person dependencies across every critical capability.
Gap and risk analysis
Where your board is exposed: missing skills, over-representation, tenure cliffs, independence erosion, and committee capacity constraints.
Diversity and independence review
A factual assessment of diversity in all its dimensions and independence against your regulator's code and investor expectations.
3-year renewal roadmap
A sequenced plan of retirements, refreshments and new appointments, aligned to your AGM cycle and committee needs.
Candidate profile specifications
Ready-to-use role specifications for each priority appointment, usable with any search firm, or with GBI Director Search.
Chair briefing and board presentation
A facilitated session with the chair (and nomination committee, where present) to align on findings and sequence the plan.
A clear process, designed around your board's calendar
We keep demands on director time deliberately light. Most of the work happens between meetings, not in them.
Brief & document review
We take a confidential brief from the chair or CEO and review strategy, board CVs, committee structure and governance documents.
Director input
Short structured interviews or questionnaires with each director capture self-assessed skills, aspirations and tenure intentions.
Analysis & benchmarking
We build the skills matrix, map it against strategy, and benchmark composition against regional and international peers.
Roadmap & recommendations
We draft the composition report and 3-year renewal roadmap, and pressure-test it with the chair.
Board session
We present findings to the board or nomination committee and facilitate agreement on the sequence of change.
The GBI Composition Compass™
Five lenses, applied together. Skills matrices alone miss what makes boards effective, we assess composition the way investors and regulators increasingly do.
Skills
Functional and technical capabilities the strategy demands, finance, risk, technology, AI, ESG, transformation.
Experience
Sector cycles, geographies, ownership models and situations (IPO, turnaround, M&A) your board must have lived through.
Diversity
Gender, nationality, age and cognitive diversity, measured against your market's codes and your stakeholders' expectations.
Independence
True independence of judgement: tenure, relationships, conflicts and the balance of power around the table.
Dynamics
How the board actually works as a team, the lens most composition reviews ignore and the one that decides whether the rest matters.
The Board Skills Matrix Template + Scoring Guide
The same matrix structure we use in client engagements, as an editable template with a step-by-step scoring guide, so you can run a first-pass assessment of your own board.
- Editable skills matrix with 24 pre-loaded competency areas
- Scoring rubric: how to rate depth honestly (0-3 scale)
- Red-flag indicators: the 6 gaps investors ask about first
- Worked example of a completed matrix for a mid-cap board
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Advisory led by practitioners, not theorists
Wassim Karkabi
Founder & Executive Chairman, Global Board Institute
Wassim advises boards, chairs and shareholders across the GCC and internationally on governance, board effectiveness and director development. He leads every advisory engagement personally, supported by GBI's global faculty of experienced chairs and directors.
“The composition review gave our nomination committee something we had never had: an objective, strategy-linked case for change that every director accepted.”
Chair, regional listed companyFrequently asked questions
How is this different from a board evaluation?
A board evaluation assesses how well your current board performs. Composition design asks a different question: is this the right board at all? Many clients run both: evaluation findings often trigger a composition review. The two together give a complete picture of effectiveness and structure.
Will directors feel threatened by the process?
Handled well, no. We position the review as strategy-driven, not performance-driven, and every director sees the same objective matrix. In practice, directors often value the clarity, including those who conclude their own chapter is naturally closing.
How much of our board's time does this take?
Roughly 60-90 minutes per director, plus one board or nomination committee session to review findings. The heavy lifting (analysis, benchmarking and drafting) happens on our side.
Is the output confidential?
Entirely. Individual interview input is anonymized, working papers stay with GBI, and the report is addressed to the chair or nomination committee. We agree the circulation list with you before we start.
Can you help us act on the roadmap?
Yes. The roadmap produces ready-to-use candidate specifications, and many clients continue into GBI Director Search or use the specifications with their preferred search firm. There is no obligation to do either.
How is the fee determined?
Fees depend on board size, complexity and the depth of benchmarking required. We scope and quote after a short brief. Book a call and we will give you a clear proposal within days.
Design the board your strategy deserves
Book a confidential consultation with our founder. We will discuss your board, your strategy, and whether a composition review is the right next step, and give you a clear scope and fee proposal after the brief.
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