How continuous learning brings value to the boardroom

Continuous learning can and should be a lifelong passion. These directors explain why they do it and the value it brings to the boardroom.

Anna Leibel GAICD admits the pursuit of knowledge “is definitely in my DNA”. She started coding aged eight, and through a 30-year executive career in financial services, technology, infrastructure and other asset-intensive sectors, has remained alive to the power of further education. 

Shifting from the C-suite to the boardroom in recent years, Leibel identified a gap in her learning that would make her a better director. So she signed up for a Master of Laws, specialising in enterprise governance.

“My core competency is tech,” says Leibel. “To go from being a technologist and then a leader of teams and transformation, to then needing to learn to read, think and write like a lawyer was the most challenging thing I’ve ever done.”

Her work with UniSuper and Telstra included leading operations and driving transformation. Further education was focused on being the best change-management executive she could be. 

“The difference as a director is that executive education needs to broaden your skillset and the value you bring to the table of the organisations you govern, versus actually continuing to develop in the area you worked in as an executive.”

Leibel found the time commitment — almost two years — even more considerable than the financial outlay, studying up to four days each week and managing her board work (two to three days) around that. 

“It looked like a one-day weekend for two years,” she says. “It was intensive and took a lot of commitment, but if I’m really honest, it was a great excuse to slow down.”

In board roles, including as a non-executive director of AMP and Secure Electronic Registries Victoria, Leibel’s further learning has built skills to understand the framework and language needed to make good decisions on a broad range of topics. It has helped her prepare organisations to thrive in an ever-evolving regulatory landscape.

“A lawyer asked me after I’d graduated, what I’d learned. I said a very clear decision-making framework. She said, ‘But doesn’t everyone know that?’ I replied no, as a lawyer you learn that. They follow a framework to think through the situation, the law around it, any case law, and basically their position. You can apply that to anything you’re trying to grapple with in the boardroom. Now I listen to the lawyers speak in the room — general counsel or law firms who do education for directors — and I can actually see how they’re following a framework when they speak.”

If Leibel has taken a single powerful insight from her studies — and seen its value in the boardroom — it is a reinforcement of the importance of balancing legal compliance with good commercial outcomes. 

“That’s something every director sets out to achieve. Being compliant is your ticket into the game. Being compliant and making good commercial decisions at the same time is where you get the value.”

Director skills

Peter Kronborg FAICD was a practising lawyer and for more than 35 years, has been an adviser to organisations, the past 15 exclusively to the boardroom. 

Many years ago, when he wanted to learn how to run a business, he did an MBA. When he entered the boardroom, he says the AICD Company Directors Course (CDC) was invaluable.

Where the MBA broadened his skills, the CDC sharpened his focus onto the role of director. It brought new skills, including the tools to look at and interrogate financial reports from a director’s helicopter perspective.

Another AICD program explored the Enneagram construct and its nine intersecting personality types. 

Kronborg says this has been invaluable in understanding that we all have a different set of communication preferences and imperatives. For example, that someone in the room might naturally be a creator, someone else a critic — and that both are strong skills to have.

“It brings a conscious awareness to the group, so everyone knows Peter thinks like this, Tom thinks like that and Mary thinks differently again,” he says. 

“It’s not just whether you think like a lawyer, it’s how you communicate. It’s a powerful tool I’ve used in boardrooms or with myself privately, understanding why she talks like this and he talks like that.”

Transition to governance

Simon Corden is a doctoral student at the Australian National University’s School of Regulation and Governance. He is exploring the connection between independent reviews and improved practice by Australian regulators. During a long career in public policy, he undertook many courses, including regulatory practice, leadership and business development.

Corden regards education as the key to improved outcomes in the boardroom and, in turn, for the organisations directors represent. Teachings from the AICD course he sat a decade ago have stayed with him. Like Kronborg, he sees it as a must-do starting point for any new director.

“Many people who become directors have a prior background as an executive,” says Corden, who was recently appointed independent chair of Energy and Water Ombudsman Victoria. 

“You need to understand that distinction between the executive role and the governance role, while also understanding it can be dynamic. You need to keep a certain distance, not get too into the weeds most of the time. But when there is a problem or a challenge on a particular issue, it’s about knowing when to dig deeper.”

Corden sees ongoing education as the route to improved outcomes, but wonders if it gets the prominence it should. 

Conscious of director workload, he knows through experience the feeling of returning from further training to a full in-tray. “Embedding that training can be a gap.” 

Mentoring matters

Leibel has seen a shift from directors educating themselves further in their area of expertise, to an understanding that modern boards look for breadth. 

A long-time advocate of having mentors both in and outside organisations, she is currently undertaking the AICD Chair’s Mentoring Program as a mentee.

Going back to university was never about collecting qualifications, but being equipped to be the best steward possible of the organisations she serves. 

Leibel loves seeing directors return to the boardroom after furthering themselves through education.

“It’s not just about what they’ve learned, it’s about the energy they bring back into the boardroom. It’s this enthusiasm around the knowledge they’ve attained — and they’re keen to share it and add value to the organisation. How good does it feel? You feel like you’ve got something new in your toolkit.”

For Kronborg, the most critical educational window for directors is at the starting line of onboarding. 

It surprises him how many are appointed without completing the CDC training. 

He encourages following a four-step paradigm for constant improvement: keep up to date with the professional skills you bring to the board; keep learning how to be a better director; learn and stay informed about the organisation; deepen your knowledge about the sector.

Over a long career working to better organisations, and latterly the directors who govern them, he can’t overstate the importance of ongoing education. 

“It’s expanded my awareness of my skills and knowledge, but also that the more I learn, the more there is to learn.”

This article first appeared under the headline 'Learning to fly' in the August 2025 issue of Company Director magazine.