Abstract/Summary

Despite an increasing remit and recognition of the role of the board Chair, resources that effective Chairs of the 21st century deploy remain inadequately explored in the existing literature. This article addresses this gap through the innovative use of 57 face-to-face, elite interviews with board members and provides new insights into the best practices of Chairs of the largest listed companies in the United Kingdom. The findings of the study indicate that effective leadership of boards requires an enlightened approach, with seven Mantras of effective board leading being commonly employed. These Mantras are—support for the CEO, lead with values, exercise influence (not power), compose diverse boards, communicate inclusively, resolve conflicts intuitively and reflect and course correct. The article makes a three-fold contribution: to resource-based theory and enlightened leadership theory, to the literature on board Chair effectiveness and praxis of leading in the 21st century.