I Don't Want to Be a Policeman on the Board

I Don't Want to Be a Policeman on the Board

What is the real job of an Independent Director?

Is it to check compliance? 

Ask difficult questions?

Stop management from taking too much risk?

Yes—but that's only half the job.

At the 2026 SID Directors Conference on 28 August 2026, former DBS CEO and current Keppel Chairman Piyush Gupta made a point that really resonated with me:

Boards cannot just be policemen.

Their responsibility is also strategy, direction and creating long-term shareholder value.

That's exactly how I see corporate governance.

I describe it using a very simple analogy:

Corporate governance is the brakes that allow a company to go faster.

Think about a Ferrari. A powerful engine gives you speed. But would you dare to drive at 200 kilometres per hour without good brakes?

Probably not.

The better your brakes, the more confidently you can accelerate.

Business is the same. Management provides the engine. Management drives growth.

The board shouldn't be sitting beside management constantly shouting:

“Slow down! Don't do this! Don't do that!”

A good Independent Director should instead help management answer three questions:

What can go wrong? 

What are we not seeing?

And:

Are we creating sustainable long-term value?

Piyush Gupta shared another example that stayed with me.

At DBS, directors once said they had not known about certain Middle East losses. The information was actually there, but buried among enormous amounts of board information.

His response was powerful: He never wanted a director to be able to say:

“We did not know.”

That, to me, captures the value of a good Independent Director.

It isn't enough to receive information.

• We must identify what really matters.
• We must connect the dots.
• We must ask the questions others may not ask.
• And we need the courage to challenge assumptions—without becoming an obstacle to management.

That's the kind of Independent Director I aspire to be.

My background spans finance, audit, consulting, regional management, strategy and developing people.

So when I look at a proposal, I don't only want to ask:

“How much can we make?”

I also want to ask:

“What assumptions are we making?”

“What happens if we're wrong?”

“Can we afford the downside?”

And:

“How can we make this opportunity work safely?”

Because a good Independent Director should know when to say:

“Stop.”

When to say:

“Slow down.”

But equally importantly—

when to say: “Go.”

I don't believe good corporate governance slows businesses down.

Good corporate governance gives good businesses the confidence to go faster, and further.

And that is the value I hope to bring to the boardroom.