TED.COM has a wonderful talk by Benjamin Zander where he asks why is it that the conductor of an orchestra is the only one holding an instrument (a baton) that makes no musical sound?

And immediately answers “because his job is to get the best music from the other members of the orchestra!”

It’s a really good analogue – in my view – for the job of Chair – to get the best from all fellow board members.

Which brings me to the 5 best words a Chair can say:

“So, what I’m hearing is . . .”

No leading, no grandstanding, no monopolising. At most (considering the Chair´s job to run the meeting) 10% of total air time.

Not that every Chair follows the rule – in one board evaluation, I calculated that the Chair and CEO took 70% of meeting time between them for the meeting I was observing.