Case in point: Resetting a fractured board
A case study on leadership dynamics, trust, and knowing when to act
Some board challenges come dressed as personality clashes. Others come wrapped in performance metrics that still look “good enough.” But when the dynamic starts to erode — when trust slips, communication stalls, and no one names what’s happening — something bigger is at risk. In this case, we were brought in to support a board heading toward that tipping point.
We, Monica Lagercrantz and Malin Lombardi, have spent decades inside boardrooms — advising leadership teams across Europe on how to strengthen culture, sharpen oversight, and turn governance friction into value.
As co-founders of Lagercrantz & Lombardi Advisers, we’ve supported boards through everything from growth challenges to leadership resets.
When the warning signs are there (but no one moves)
You can usually spot the signals if you’re paying attention.
The same few voices dominating the debate
Subtle breakdowns in communication
Growing reluctance to challenge ideas
Tension that never fully left the room
And that’s where this one board found itself.
A newly appointed non-executive director (NED) had quietly begun to derail the group dynamic. The CEO was frustrated, the chair was caught in the middle, and while performance on paper held steady, something was unravelling behind the scenes.
It’s easy to convince yourself it isn’t urgent when the numbers still look fine. But when a board loses its capacity to support long-term value, the damage is already underway.
As Monica puts it:
— The real frustration is when everyone sees the problem and no one does anything about it. That’s when the board gets stuck.
A stalemate that couldn’t hold
This wasn’t just a personality clash. The trust dynamics were eroding, leadership styles were colliding, and the board was slipping into defensive postures rather than solving the problem.
What made this more complex was the surface-level stability. The financials were fine. From the outside, nothing looked wrong. But from the inside, the board had lost its ability to challenge, adapt, and move forward together.
When leadership teams don’t address this early, they drift into dysfunction — quietly, and sometimes irreversibly.
How we unlocked the reset
We didn’t start with a structural solution. We started by listening.
We ran one-to-one conversations across the boardroom and the investor group to hear what wasn’t being said in the room.
We mapped patterns:
Where communication was breaking down
Where leadership styles clashed
Where openness to change had stalled
What emerged wasn’t a need for new processes — it was a need for new behaviours. What unlocked the shift was surprisingly simple, but difficult to commit to:
Low ego
Openness to feedback
A willingness to adjust behaviours (not just process)
Malin reflects:
— One director chose to step down. Another shifted their approach and rebuilt trust. And we supported the chair through every step: clarifying expectations, shaping the reset, and making it stick.
The reset was a process. It took clarity, trust, and careful handling to make it last.
A realigned board
The energy came back. The dynamics improved. The sponsor’s confidence returned. A structured board development programme followed, and we were retained to search for the next NED.
Like many boards, what they needed was more self-awareness, better communication, and the courage to act earlier.
As Monica says:
— If there’s one thing I’d do differently, it’s this: start sooner. The signals were there. They usually are. It’s just a matter of whether you choose to listen.
Key takeaways
Every board hits friction. That’s not the issue. The question is whether you catch it when it’s still fixable — or only after it starts costing you clarity, confidence, or long-term value.
Here’s what this whole case reminds us of:
Performance on paper doesn’t always reflect boardroom health
Leadership tension often signals something deeper
The ability to reset comes from behaviour
The earlier you listen to the signals, the easier they are to solve
A final thought
Boards rarely fail because of one dramatic misstep. They fail because no one paused the meeting when the laptops popped open, when trust faded, or when two strong voices took the floor and no one challenged them.
Fix the small things. Move early. Protect what really matters: strategic clarity, investor confidence, and sustainable value.
Our perspective on ‘Governance for Growth’
At Lagercrantz & Lombardi Advisers, we help boards, CEOs, and leadership teams build the clarity, adaptability, and confidence needed to lead well.
We work on three levels:
Shaping Foundations: Roles, structure, and search for the right chair and NEDs
Elevating Performance: Culture resilience, agile oversight, and a long-term value lens
Embedding Excellence: Tech-enabled reviews that catch micro-faults before they become macro-crises
What keeps us engaged after decades in boardrooms is this simple belief: business, even at the top, is always about people.
What signals might you already be tolerating in your boardroom?
Let’s continue the conversation:
📧 monica@lagercrantzlombardi.com
| 📞 +46 70 606 63 64
📧 malin@lagercrantzlombardi.com
| 📞 +46 76 840 91 15