Episodes
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Long-serving Directors and advisers often bring invaluable experience, deep organisational knowledge and trusted relationships. But what happens when tenure begins to outweigh contribution?
In this episode of Off the Record, Lisa Coletta and Adam Coonan explore one of governance's most uncomfortable conversations. They discuss how complacency can quietly emerge, why Boards sometimes tolerate behaviours they'd never accept from a new appointment, and how loyalty, familiarity and long-standing relationships can begin to constrain accountability.
It's a thoughtful discussion about stewardship, contribution and the importance of continuing to earn your seat at the Board table, no matter how many years you've served.
Because good governance doesn't ask how long someone has been there. It asks whether they're still adding value today.
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Shareholders play a critical role in governance, but what happens when ownership starts bleeding into Board decision-making or management operations?
In this episode of Off the Record, Adam Coonan and Lisa Coletta explore the challenges that arise when the boundaries between shareholders, Boards and management become blurred.
They discuss the difference between ownership rights, governance responsibilities and operational accountability, and why governance relies on clarity around who decides what, through which forum, and under which authority.
The conversation explores the behavioural dynamics that emerge when influence begins operating outside formal governance channels, including informal lobbying, side conversations, boundary drift, hesitation, appeasement and the erosion of trust in decision-making processes.
Adam and Lisa also examine why founder-led, family-owned and privately held organisations can be particularly vulnerable to these dynamics, and how even well-designed governance frameworks can become destabilised when influence starts operating through unofficial pathways.
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Missing episodes?
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Board decisions are recorded in the minutes. But what about everything that shaped the decision before it got there?
In this episode of Off the Record, Adam Coonan and Lisa Coletta explore the gap between what is formally recorded and what is actually experienced inside the Boardroom.
They discuss the behavioural dynamics that influence decision-making, including power, influence, challenge, silence, confidence, culture and the subtle signals that often shape outcomes long before a resolution is passed.
Why do some voices carry more weight than others? What does silence really mean in a Boardroom? And how can two Boards with similar governance structures produce vastly different decision-making outcomes?
This conversation explores the human dynamics behind governance and why some of the most important influences on Board decisions never make the minutes.
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In this episode, Lisa Coletta and Adam Coonan unpack one of governance’s oldest tensions — the line between Board oversight and management responsibility — and why it still quietly destabilises decision-making inside organisations every day.
Most governance conversations stop at structure: “Here is the line.” “Here is the delegation.” “Here is the approval authority.”
But the real challenge is rarely the policy itself. It is how the line is actually experienced in practice.
The hesitation. The second-guessing. The delayed escalation. The Board drifting operationally because something no longer feels quite right. And executive teams trying to “fix it first” before bringing matters forward.
In this episode, Lisa and Adam explore how pressure changes judgement, how fear delays escalation, when Board curiosity becomes operational interference, and how ambiguity quietly distorts decision-making long before anything reaches the minutes.
Because governance frameworks matter. But frameworks alone do not explain what really happens inside rooms under pressure.
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In this episode, Lisa and Adam explore how Boards respond under pressure — and whether we’re seeing considered responses or reactive decision-making shaped by past crises.
With rising global uncertainty and supply chain pressure, the conversation turns to what’s really driving decision-making in Boardrooms.
Is urgency being confused with importance?
Are governance frameworks being applied… or bypassed?And perhaps most importantly — how can Boards distinguish between a response and a reaction when both can look the same on the surface?
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In this first episode of Off the Record, Lisa Coletta and Adam Coonan explore the current state of governance — and what’s really shaping decision-making in Boardrooms.
Using the recent Star Casino decision as a starting point, they unpack the tension between reliance and inquiry, the blurring of roles between Boards and management, and the increasing pressure on directors to make decisions in complex, uncertain environments.
This episode goes beyond the case itself to explore the behavioural dynamics that influence governance in practice — including why silence occurs in the Boardroom, how assumptions take hold, and what happens when escalation expectations aren’t clearly defined.
Because governance doesn’t operate in documents.
It operates in rooms.
And more often than not, the things that shape decisions… are the things that don’t make the minutes.
