Ready for the boardroom? Start with Foundations of Directorship

Emerging director

Bruce Cousins MAICD is a director at Pilecom, a family-owned solar farm business operating across Australia.

The business began in South Africa 12 years ago, but I’ve been in Australia for about  seven years. I’ve been in a shareholder/director role from a young age, so I feel I’ve been exposed to the business for a long time.

The lines can get a bit blurry in a private family business. Are we dealing with family matters or are we putting our corporate hats on? Not having the distinction can cause challenges. Over the years, we’ve devised a way to differentiate. We call work-oriented discussions “square table”, while family matters are “round table”. This helps create the right mindset and boundaries for the business and the relationships.

A more recent development has been bringing in a non-executive director, who is not a part of the family, as our chair. I was able to discuss what would be the best approach and balance for our business with other participants and the facilitators during the Foundations of Directorship program. The discussions were helpful and reassuring of how others structure their boards to get the most out of them.

Family or small businesses might think good governance is less relevant for them compared with larger or listed companies. But everything applies to them equally; only the level of detail and complexity changes. When you are new to the board, be prepared for that first meeting. Understand the financials, understand the full board pack. Even if there isn’t a board pack, have an agenda and minutes. Go in ready with questions, but be 100 per cent certain you know what’s being presented.

The biggest, most challenging and exciting journey we’ve had as a board came when we were approached by a company wanting to purchase us. There were so many considerations and we had to think about how we’d handle that as a board. Were we open to an acquisition? How ready were we as a company? Was it the best thing for us?

If you get a knock on the door from someone wanting to acquire you, having a formalised, documented governance structure makes the process a lot easier. It’s an important aspect of our business the program helped with. Being across good governance is important for every entity. We needed more structure around formalising processes and documentation. Learning how to take that forward was extremely helpful.

More private companies could benefit from understanding how to put these basic foundations in place. While the next generation might bring new ideas, having processes in place that are communicated to everyone is reassuring for the generations who built the business. Being prepared early is more likely to facilitate better outcomes, no matter what the business faces.

Aspiring director

Michelle Lacey AAICD is the Stakeholder Engagement Lead for the NRMA Energy portfolio. She is a senior corporate affairs and stakeholder engagement professional with experience across Australian government programs, major infrastructure delivery and public accountability roles.

I don’t currently sit on a board, although I do contribute to board papers and commercial strategy as a member of the leadership team. While I have prior board experience, I’m conscious experience alone does not equate to good governance.

I wanted a structured, professional understanding of the role of a director and the obligations that come with it, rather than relying on instinct or operational perspective. My background includes senior roles in Queensland local government across procurement, contract management and funding programs, as well as board experience in community sport and NFP governance.

I work at the intersection of government, industry and communities, leading funding strategy, stakeholder engagement and public narrative to ensure initiatives balance policy intent and commercial sustainability, and deliver long-term organisational value.

I undertook the AICD’s Foundations of Directorship program after watching leaders and directors I deeply admire navigate complexity with calm, clarity and accountability. Many of those individuals were GAICD graduates.

What stood out to me was not just their technical competence, but the confidence and discipline with which they approached decision making, risk and responsibility. That observation was a key motivator for me to formally invest in my governance capability. The program clearly articulated the distinction between governance and management. It grounded directors’ duties, risk oversight and accountability in practical, real-world scenarios. This shifted how I think about board roles and the weight of independent judgement required.

I studied business at QUT Business School, but finance was not my strongest discipline. The Finance for Directors course demystified financial concepts and shifted how I approach financial reporting. I left the course able to interrogate financial statements with greater depth and, importantly, with the confidence to ask informed questions. Financial literacy is not about being an accountant, but about understanding the story behind the numbers and knowing what questions to ask. That shift in confidence has already changed how I read papers and contribute to discussions.

As I build on my career, I now have a governance framework I can rely on across sectors. One learning that will stay with me is the emphasis on acting in the best interests of the organisation as a whole, rather than representing personal expertise or stakeholder positions. The Foundations of Directorship program reinforced that effective directors are calm, prepared and accountable. That mindset shift has been pivotal in shaping how I approach my directorship journey.

This article first appeared under the title 'Support system' in the April/May 2026 Issue of Company Director Magazine.