What boards are up against.

Overseeing AI while the board's knowledge lags behind

AI has become a strategic issue, but many boards lack the knowledge and information to oversee it. In the Netherlands, AI still rarely features in the strategy or in the supervisory board profile.

• 66%of board members have little or no knowledge of or experience with AI.DeloitteNot yet checked
• 71%of US directors name AI as the skill their board most needs to strengthen.PwCNot yet checked
• 15%of Dutch listed companies explicitly addressed AI in their strategy.Monitoring Commissie Corporate Governance CodeNot yet checked

Geopolitics and compounding crises on the board's agenda

Within a year, geopolitical risk has gone from a fringe topic to a core concern for board members. Dutch supervisory board members see the greatest need for change in risks that strike at the same time, such as a prolonged outage of power and internet.

• 59%of board members call geopolitical risk very or extremely important; it rose from 15th to 7th place on their list.WTW and Reed SmithNot yet checked
• 93%of Dutch participants see a need for change where risks coincide, the highest share in the study.Grant ThorntonNot yet checked

A caveat. Grant Thornton gives no publication date for the study; it is from 2026.

Cyber risk and digital dependency as an oversight issue

Cyber and data risks top board members' concerns, and AI adds to them. In the Netherlands, cyber expertise still appears in only a minority of supervisory board profiles.

• Over 2/3of US directors name cybersecurity and privacy as their biggest concern about AI.PwCNot yet checked
• No. 2Data loss and cyberattacks come second among the risks that worry board members.WTW and Reed SmithNot yet checked
• 32%of the profiles drawn up by Dutch supervisory boards list cybersecurity as desired expertise.Monitoring Commissie Corporate Governance CodeNot yet checked

Doubts about the board's own make-up and expertise

Board members are looking more critically at their own board, and a lack of expertise is increasingly the reason. Evaluations do take place, but in the Netherlands the results make it into the annual report less often.

• 55%of US directors think at least one fellow board member should go.PwCNot yet checked
• 39%of them cite a lack of expertise as the reason, up from 21% a year earlier.PwCNot yet checked
• 59%of Dutch listed companies report on the board evaluation as the corporate governance code requires; in 2019 it was about 80%.Monitoring Commissie Corporate Governance CodeNot yet checked

CEO succession as a weak spot in board oversight

Board members name CEO succession as the part of their oversight most in need of improvement. Few boards are satisfied with their own succession process.

• 34%of board members call succession of the CEO and executive team a top priority for the company.Diligent Institute and Corporate Board MemberNot yet checked
• 21%rate their own succession process as excellent; 17% call it poor.Diligent Institute and Corporate Board MemberNot yet checked

Oversight is taking up ever more time

The time supervisory board members spend on the role has been growing for years, and boards meet more often than planned. Board members feel their fees no longer reflect that time and responsibility.

• 80%of non-executive directors in the UK and Ireland say the role takes more time than it did five years ago.Korn FerryNot yet checked
• 95%feel the fees do not match the time and responsibility involved.Korn FerryNot yet checked
• 11meetings on average at the supervisory boards of the largest Dutch listed companies, where 8 were planned.Spencer StuartNot yet checked

A strategy that has to change more often, and people who have to keep up

Board members expect the strategy to need major revision within one to two years and see execution as the biggest area for improvement. They name skills shortages and the workforce's adaptability as the brakes.

• 80%of board members expect the strategy to need major revision within one to two years.KPMG Board Leadership CenterNot yet checked
• Over 60%name execution of the strategy as the main area for improvement in their oversight.NACDNot yet checked
• 58%see room for improvement in management's handling of talent.BDONot yet checked

Accounting for oversight, culture included

Supervisory boards are expected to show more explicitly how they exercise oversight and how culture contributes to the strategy. Listed companies lag behind on this, and in education most of the inspectorate's financial remedial orders go to the internal supervisory body.

• 32%of listed companies comply with the governance code's provision on culture, one of the lowest scores.Monitoring Commissie Corporate Governance CodeNot yet checked
• 65%of the 122 financial remedial orders in primary and secondary education in 2024-2025 were aimed at the internal supervisory body.Inspectie van het OnderwijsNot yet checked