Boards are built for judgement. What they rarely practise is creating the challenge that comes before it. I help boards and the people who write for them strengthen that challenge around a consequential decision.
I’m Chris Bailey, an independent strategic advisor. I’ve spent my career advising boards and leadership teams globally, helping organisations see problems differently, challenge assumptions and find better ways forward.
The six skills draw on that experience, now applied to creating better board challenge.
Skills
Noticing
Spot the Clock
See what others miss.
Reframing
Better the Question
Find the better question.
Synthesising
Connect the Set
Put the full picture together.
Generating
Swipe the Formula
Offer another way forward.
Distilling
Straighten the Line
Get to what actually matters.
Landing
Find Your Four
Make the challenge land.
Spot the Clock in practice
Noticing
Spot the Clock
See what others miss.
The stories
Freund, the half-secondEXPOSURE In 2024, Microsoft engineer Andres Freund chased a login that ran half a second slow. It led to a backdoor hidden in software running much of the internet’s servers, and it was pulled before it spread.
Ogilvy, the electric clockOPPORTUNITY Buried in a Rolls-Royce technical report: at sixty miles an hour, the loudest noise in the car came from the electric clock. David Ogilvy made it the headline of one of the most famous advertisements ever written.
The techniques
Note the outside Before opening the pack, read what customers, competitors, the market and the press are saying, so the pack is no longer the only version of events.
Note the repeats Notice the words, claims and reassurances the pack keeps coming back to, because once a line has been said often enough, it stops being tested.
Note the gaps Decide what you’d expect the pack to contain before you open it, then look for the paper, the number or the risk that isn’t there.
The test
Is it a clock?
Does it challenge the story?Does it connect to anything else?Does it affect a decision?
None of this replaces a director’s judgement. It creates better challenge around opportunity and exposure—so there is more to judge.
Ways to work together
Board Session
Strengthen challenge around a live decision or work through a simulated board pack.
Better Board Packs
Help executives write papers that make the question, evidence and options easier to challenge.
One-to-One
A briefing for board and executive candidates ahead of interview or appointment.
Keynote / Talk
Stories and practical thinking skills for boards, leadership teams and director communities.
Downloads
For chairsSix Moves for the Chair One move per skill, made before or during the meeting.Download ↓︎
For pack writersSix Checks Before You Submit a Board Pack Read your own pack the way a director will.Download ↓︎
About
I’m Chris Bailey, an independent strategic advisor. I’ve advised boards and leadership teams globally, holding senior creative and strategy roles at Saatchi & Saatchi, JWT, BBDO, Digitas, Porter Novelli and Dentsu.
My work has included Aston Martin Lagonda, Shell, Unilever, Vodafone, British Airways, Adobe, AstraZeneca, Siemens and Legal & General.
I’ve served on the Business Superbrands Expert Council and written as a columnist on business and creativity. I’m also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Institute of Directors.
The six skills bring that experience into the boardroom, strengthening the thinking that comes before judgement, with an outside perspective and no stake in the answer.
Contact
Bring a decision you’re facing. Let’s discuss where the challenge could start.