Blue Board Leadership 2025

Blue Board Leadership 2025

The purpose of The Blue Board Leadership Program is to improve the competencies of future and present ‘blue’ board members in handling challenges with exceptional strength and board management skills. 

Purpose

The demands upon, and expectations of, future ‘blue’ board members are continuously rising, and active board membership is constantly faced with increasing complexity, unpredictability and volatility, alongside areas such as risk management and the Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) agenda. The global maritime industry is undergoing dramatic changes in the areas of digitalisation, cyber risks and security; decarbonisation is transforming the industry and international regulations are imposing new rules of the game. All of these are topics which ‘blue’ boards need to be able to navigate skilfully.

The purpose of The Blue Board Leadership Program is to improve the competencies of future and present ‘blue’ board members in handling challenges such as those mentioned above with exceptional strength and board management skills.

Studies show that companies with a holistic focus on the interaction between owners, board, and management can grow faster, increase yields and realise the market opportunities. Among a range of key topics, it is essential for ‘blue’ board members to gain knowledge about the corporate governance system, value creation, company law, and board dynamics.

The Blue Board Leadership Program will endeavour to:

• Set the bar high, offering a robust impact board leadership training program based on the well-established and reputed CBS Board Leadership Education programs.

• Be anchored in, be relevant to and add value to the global maritime segment and its needs.

• Be global by nature.

• Incorporate sound principles and best practices for effective board membership, stewardship, and governance through case studies.

• Showcase examples of high performance boards operating in key global governance regimes.

• Show how boards can navigate accelerated change, the growing ESG agenda and increased complexity within the global ambit of the maritime sector.

• Discuss examples of business success and learn from failures, mitigate risk, and demonstrate how to maximise business opportunities, growth, and shareholder value through strategic board involvement.

• This board education program is developed by CBS Board Leadership Education in partnership with the Blue MBA Association and experienced professors (from CBS and other international universities and business schools), board members, and partners from EY (annual reports and finance issues) and Kromann Reumert.

Topics

• Corporate Governance & Corporate Law

• Board Dilemmas, Legal Responsibilities and the ABC of Board Membership

• Board Leadership, Board Profiles, Composition and Competencies

• Evaluation of Boards and CEO Succession

• Board Dynamics, Diversity and Decisions

• Accounting and the Annual Report

• Trends in Reporting of Board Management and ESG

• Financial Management

• Creating Value, Capital Base and Corporate Finance

• Risk Management

• Global Outlook for the Maritime Industry

• Geopolitical Trends / Societal Trends

• Sustainability, UN Sustainability Goals

• Shareholders, Stakeholders and Society and the Public

• Strategy – Digitalisation, Innovation and Disruptive Business Models

• Cyber Risk, Cyber Security and Cyber Governance

• The Supply Chain – Trends and Developments

Teaching approach

Led by a world-class faculty of more than 30 experienced professors, board leaders and advisors as well as industry experts, participants will work on more than 20 industry relevant cases during the eight days focusing on the most important issues and challenging dilemmas faced by boards of directors of global maritime and logistics companies.

Each case discussion will be initiated by a short introduction of the topic, followed by breakout group discussions in which the groups act as boards of directors. The boards’ decisions will be summarised, and challenged by the faculty team during the concluding classroom discussion. The program is in English to accommodate international participants.