Every boardroom has its unspoken rules—behaviors that go unchecked, personalities no one confronts, patterns that feel permanent. The tricky thing is boards don’t need bylaws to form these unspoken rules. Sometimes the most powerful norms are the ones no one decided on—but everyone follows.

Here’s a simple question you can ask to explore this idea further:

What behaviors have we normalized that are not serving us well?

Maybe it’s the loud voice that dominates, or the silent one who never speaks.The circular debates that eat up 30% of the meeting. The real risk? Those patterns become durable. They shape the next generation of directors—even when no one remembers why they started.

It might be time for a pattern interrupt.

If this hits home, we unpack it in our latest episode of the Build Better Boards podcast, live now wherever you get your podcasts.

Talk soon,
– Keri & Richard