Leaders who shape outcomes begin by understanding the room, not the deck.
Mark Bateman | November 26, 2025
Most executives prepare for a board meeting by polishing their slides.
But the leaders who influence boards prepare in a different way:
They ask themselves:
Which room am I walking into?
Boards do not think the same.
They do not behave the same.
They do not add the same value.
If you treat them as if they do, you will always be speaking at the wrong altitude.
Over the years I have watched a simple pattern emerge.
Boards mature in three distinct ways. Not intellectually, but emotionally and systemically.
Boards drowning in papers.
Every risk register is another blanket of protection.
Every KPI is a way to avoid uncomfortable conversations.
They are not bureaucratic by choice. They are protecting something they fear might break.
Fuel and Containment dominate. Oxygen is minimal. Heat is almost absent.
Their question: Are we getting it right?
They confuse movement with progress
Boards beginning to look up and out.
They can see patterns, markets, and strategic tension.
They ask: Are we doing the right thing?
Fuel meets Oxygen, but Heat is inconsistent.
They are trying. They are learning. They slip back into comfort often.
Rare, maybe ten percent globally.
They speak in decades, not quarters.
They welcome dissent.
They breathe capability, market reality, and purpose in the same breath.
Their question: What is right for the long-term health of this company?
This is where Fuel, Oxygen, and Heat sit within strong Containment.
These boards shape the world, not just react to it.
Your influence has little to do with brilliance of content and everything to do with reading the maturity of the room.
You cannot speak L3 to an L1 board. They will panic.
You cannot speak L1 detail to an L3 board. They will switch off.
Before any board conversation ask:
What level of maturity describes this board?
Not as judgement, but as clarity.
When you can read the room, you can meet it.
When you can meet it, you can lift it.