• COVID-19 highlights the importance of integrated corporate governance, or more fully integrating ESG&D factors into the governance, strategy and operations of companies.
• The course outlined six ways Boards can translate stakeholder capitalism into practice.
• This leadership agenda will help companies remain competitive and resilient in the long term as well as address systemic societal challenges.

The COVID-19 crisis is accelerating a shift toward a more integrated approach to corporate governance that has been gathering force for some time. The pandemic has put people’s lives, livelihoods and learning at the centre of the public policy and business response in almost every country and industry sector.

We outline a six-point Leadership Agenda for corporate Boards that we believe will be essential for ensuring their companies’ longer-term competitiveness and resilience as well as addressing some of the systemic societal challenges that have been thrown into sharp relief during the pandemic. This agenda is relevant for any Board or company that is serious about absorbing the deeper lessons of the current crisis for their firm and translating the principles of stakeholder capitalism into practice.