After a 30-year career in executive and global leadership roles at Dow Chemical, Davida Johnson has retired to pursue a Non-Executive Director path.
Having represented Dow in a Joint Venture Board first as a Director then as Chair, she knew what was required to perform. Nonetheless, because Governance is an increasingly crucial issue, Davida decided to extend her expertise by enrolling in the Chartered Director certification courses offered by the Institute of Directors (IOD).
“I think they were pretty much the first people to offer this professional training to current and prospective Board members,” Davida explains. “The certification consists of modules covering HR, marketing, finance, strategy development, legal and governance. It was the latter two that I was most interested in, to top up my business experience.”
According to her, one of the best aspects of the course was her fellow attendees. “They were a diverse group of public and private sector leaders, primarily UK-focused. I think, however, that as the IOD expands, the diversity of attendees will increase, particularly as European Boards embrace higher governance.”
Having pursued the IOD Chartered Director Certification Davida has now complemented her corporate and industrial experience with Non-Executive Directorships in the Not for Profit sector. “There are many organizations in this space looking to increase their business savvy as they reduce reliance on traditional fundraising and develop products and services to generate revenue.”
About the Institute of Directors
The IOD is an influential and respected membership organization in the UK, and an international network of branches and affiliates whose objective is to support, represent and set standards for the leadership skills of directors worldwide. Its courses, qualifications, board development services, coaching and mentoring aim to help executives and organizations achieve success.
An estimated one in seven people in the UK are neurodivergent, yet many struggle to get into jobs or progress in employment. For example, just three in ten of autistic people are in employment, with many of these jobs unstable or below their skill level. In the engineering sector, the call to recognise and harness the unique capabilities of neurodivergent talent has never been more pressing.
A desire from younger workers to earn high salaries early in their careers is a desire based on needs and not wants, data suggests. When asked about the main reasons for compensation increases, 31% said to pay for all their bills and expenses and 25% said to save money for the future.
At a recent training I was facilitating, I invited people to ask me anything anonymously using polling technology. While the questions always give me great insight into where people are struggling with issues of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), this question seemed more universal: “What do I do if my manager is not inclusive?”
