A board room table and chairs and white board on the wall at the head of the table. Logos for Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and SVDX appear on the screen. Webinar Title is displayed, Ethical Culture Under Pressure: Board Oversight in an Era of Scrutiny.
Ann Skeet is senior director of leadership ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University. Views are her own.
When culture is discussed in corporate settings, it’s often characterized as something that is amorphous and hard to measure. But culture management, when seen as a hard, technical skill, can go far toward helping an organization realize their business goals and do so ethically.
Many board directors are unaware of all the places that point to the board’s responsibility for the ethical culture of the companies they govern. We explored some of those references in the recording of a recent program I participated in that was sponsored by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and the Silicon Valley Directors Exchange. “Ethical Culture Under Pressure: Board Oversight in an Era of Scrutiny,” dove into the reality that boards have long been accountable for the corporation’s ethical culture. This is driven home by references to these responsibilities in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Section 303A of the New York Stock Exchange which outlines the requirements of listed companies, and in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. They all reinforce the obligation of boards to have some insight into the ethical culture of the companies they oversee.
I was joined for this panel discussion by board directors Sue Siegel and James White, who shared stories that brought this reality to life. Together, we discussed how boards account for these responsibilities in the boardroom.
Sue reminded us of the need to follow the incentives, look for patterns in internal audit findings, or quiet attrition in certain groups getting unfiltered visibility. You can’t just rely on management’s reporting even though that’s one valuable data point. She also emphasized the need to test the gray zones. The policies might say one thing, but how are decisions made under pressure, pressure that is generated by things like the advent of AI and the geopolitical landscape of the day, all give you critical information about a company’s culture.
James pointed out that ethics and culture have always been important for the best boards. What’s changed is the volume and variability in the way boards are getting tested—AI, cyber, political issues, tariffs, supply chain, safety issues. So, there is a practical need to get out of the boardroom. If you have factories, James said, go to the factories, if you are a restaurant company, visit the restaurants, if you’re in technology, go to the conferences and see how your organization is viewed by other stakeholders. The best companies have systems and processes to gauge the climate of the board, the climate of safety and ethics. With the velocity of change, boards should be having those discussions in an ongoing manner.
And we know here at the Markkula Center that there are some conditions that board members can look for that signal it is more likely for ethics to be used inside of companies. To learn more about these conditions and the practical wisdom shared by my fellow presenters and our moderator, Dan Siciliano, please view this recording of our discussion, held on April 23, 2026.
Access the webinar recording of "Ethical Culture Under Pressure: Board Oversight in an Era of Scrutiny."