Governance blind spots sounding alarm bells for nearly 9 in 10 directors
Governance blind spots are enough to worry 86% of directors, according to a new survey aimed at pinpointing how ready boards are to tackle the decade’s most pressing governance issues.
Released by The Corporate Governance Institute, Boardroom Resilience in 2026: Independent research into board readiness, risk and strategy collected data from 500 C-suite and boardroom professionals in the UK and Ireland in mid-2025. 43.2% of respondents strongly agreed that their organisation needed to take more steps to address potential governance blind spots or deficiencies. A further 43.2% somewhat agreed with the same statement.
Combined, it means that 86.4% of respondents showed some level of concern about the blind spots at the governance level of their business. This is a staggering figure, indicative that many modern directors simply don’t have the skills, or belief in the skills of their colleagues, to completely weather the storm of modern business challenges.
Zeroing in on what ‘governance blind spots’ mean
It’s very easy to assume that the word ‘blind spot’ means a simple lack of awareness. While that’s true in many cases, some blind spots are more complex. They can easily involve a lack of skills, rather than a lack of knowledge. Directors might be very aware that there’s a new governance challenge at play but, as a group, haven’t developed the capacity to address it yet. Because of that, they may introduce serious risk in their oversight, not knowing the core parts of new structures, and not being able to ask the right questions.
Some of these new issues include:
- The rapid integration of AI, which creates oversight gaps in data ethics, algorithmic bias, and security.
- Environment, social and governance (ESG). It has moved from being an optional extra to a core strategic element to a polarised debate topic that many businesses wish to avoid, even if their regulators still look for reporting on it. There’s a lot at play.
- The chaotic geopolitical landscape of the 2020s. There’s no denying that polarisation has spilt over from being pure rhetoric. Nowadays, physical conflict is common, and it forces businesses everywhere to adapt.
Combined with other issues like finance, risk and new compliance burdens, directors can easily find themselves on the back foot if they don’t take steps to remedy their blind spots as quickly as possible. The trouble is that, while many seem openly committed to that, it hasn’t translated to practical success yet.
The confidence paradox
This brings us to another curious finding in the Boardroom Resilience report. While 86% of respondents admit to critical blind spots, 85% of directors still report a medium-to-high net confidence in their board’s overall performance.
Why the gap? It could easily be down to how specific boards get when they think about their main challenges. Overall, there may be a bedrock of confidence, but when we zoom in on details, like what boards are doing to address AI risk, or geopolitical fallouts, directors may finally realise that there are issues that need addressing.
The problem with this mindset is that when specific blind spots are ignored, and then come back to cause problems, the generalised confidence among the board (and, by extension, across the rest of the business), can evaporate quickly.
“Nothing is a problem until it is,” rings very true here. It’s always bound to be a natural trend in the rapid-paced world of business, but it does introduce an element of risk in itself.
The path forward
There are positives and negatives in the fact that nearly 9 in 10 directors are hearing alarm bells around key issues. On the positive side, it means most directors are conscious of what they don’t know, which is a good thing. “Not knowing” happens with every leader on the planet. The best leaders are those who are happy to admit it and show a willingness to learn. Sadly, we’re seeing a re-emerging culture of penalising that admission before any learning can take place. That will never yield positive results, only quick leadership changes and disjointed strategy. Thankfully, the stats in the Boardroom Resilience report point to a strong willingness to learn and to shut down blind spots before they can cause a problem.
Where do directors go from here? Analysis and action.
They need to get to the bottom of the blind spots they know are there. From that, they’ll have a clear picture of what they can do to improve. Are new skillsets needed? Can they be recruited externally or trained internally? How will these new skills help in two, five, and ten years’ time?
If you can answer these questions now, you’re on the road to success.