Rabih Baz Radwan – Get to know our VAB member
We would like to introduce our member Rabih Baz Radwan, who joins the VAB community from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Rabih currently holds the function of Chief Advisory Officer at the Centre for Governance in Riyadh, and he has served in a partner and board role for the startup Intervu.ai and also in top leadership roles with Deloitte and in a senior risk management role with EY. His professional journey has seen him working in markets across the MENA region, with a focus on Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and the aforementioned Saudi Arabia markets.
What inspired you to become a member of the Virtual Advisory Board community?
I have been an advisor for boards, board committees and executive management teams for a while now. I have provided counsel in the areas of risk-based strategic decision-making, corporate governance, risk oversight, sustainability and strategy. Joining VAB motivates me to leverage my skills, experience as well as uniqueness and put it to the service of others across the world through board director, committee member or advisory roles.
In what area do you feel board advisors can add the most value for Boards of Directors (BoDs) and executive teams?
I believe that there is a wide range of areas for board advisors to cover, but one of the most crucial and fundamental areas I have seen in my career is the maturity of governance practices. And here I mean at the level of the boards and executive management teams. This sets the tone from the top for the whole organisation. Higher governance maturity corresponds with greater clarity and higher chances of sustainability for the organisation’s value generation, a bigger drive for efficiency and effectiveness across most performance areas, increased emphasis on transparency and accountability, as well as a more ethical organisational culture and open conversations. All of these help businesses become more agile and prepared in the face of uncertainty and unpredictable market forces.
What would be your dream company/organisation to work with as a board advisor/NED?
While I am biased by my sector-agnostic consulting career of 18 years, where I advised and supported organisations across a range of industries, I can highlight a couple of organisational characteristics that hold a higher interest for me: 1) if the organisation is involved in a business or service that directly impacts people's livelihoods (especially the lives of children) and well-being (e.g., education, healthcare, NGOs); and 2) if the organisation leverages AI in its service or product delivery and is genuinely interested in the ethical deployment of technology.
When thinking about why I wish to serve on board I would point out this simple fact: organisations, of all types, touch people's lives directly. In many cases, they define quality of life and the realities that people all over the world face. The better boards these organisations have for providing oversight and governance, the greater the impact and more sustainable value they provide. This is why I take board membership and director roles seriously and with a strong focus on ethics. I hope, through VAB, I can amplify my contributions to organisations in pursuit of this goal.
What book or podcast would you recommend to VAB members that might improve their skills in corporate governance, board advisory or boosting board-to-executive team communications?
I am an avid reader and have an interest in several topics that could be of help in the boardroom. While I can think of many books to suggest, the top ones would include Decision Quality by Carl Spetzler, Hannah Winter and Jennifer Meyer. That book focuses on elements that every board director should familiarise themselves with when making strategic decisions. There is also Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman that can help directors understand the motivational and cognitive biases in decision-making processes and how they play out in our moods when taking decisions. Perhaps, lastly, I would propose Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman which introduces directors (as readers) to the art and science of creating alternative models - not necessarily to apply direct lessons from the book itself (although that's very interesting), but rather to get inspired to think creatively and out of the box.
