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When communications consultant Jo McKay GAICD decided to do the Company Directors Course at the end of last year, she was surprised by how much she gained from it.
I’d been thinking about board work as a future goal for a few years and the Company Directors Course was already on my radar. I have 20-plus years’ of professional experience and had done a few governance short courses, but knew I wanted more detailed governance training.
Plus, I could see the GAICD post-nominal was a benefit — so many advertised board roles had AICD training as a preference.
I knew face-to-face was the best fit for me as I enjoy being with people and value in-person connection. It was the right choice. Our cohort was engaged and focused, and our conversations — both in the classroom and over coffee and during lunch breaks — were rich and interesting.
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A friend had recommended taking the five-day intensive, which runs Wednesday to Tuesday. You get the same deep and compounding learning as the Monday–Friday experience, where each day builds meaningfully on the one before, but there’s also a weekend in the middle for a bit of a brain break.
The reading material is extensive, the course challenging and there’s a significant time investment required. But our facilitators were knowledgeable, present and open about their own boardroom experiences. It was hugely rewarding and I surprised myself by enjoying the assignment. It was such a practical exercise to sharpen our “director’s mindset” and showcase what we’d learned.
As luck would have it, I had three board interviews with not-for-profits within a few weeks of the course. I was offered all three and have accepted two. There’s no doubt the course contributed to that outcome. When I went into those interviews, I understood so much more about director responsibilities, boardroom dynamics and how I could contribute.
This article first appeared as 'The Graduate' in the February/March 2026 Issue of Company Director Magazine.
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