They are not compensated highly relative to most of their financial stakes. And they are invariably very busy with multiple commitments of running their own companies, serving on other boards, managing financial affairs, engaging in philanthropic interests, and often writing and speaking. All told, most directors care more about protecting the downside and their scarce time than about pursuing the upside. That’s why, in the current governance and shareholder-activist environment, directors are deeply focused on avoiding scandal and conflicts of interest and on the propriety of financial accounts. They will therefore take swift action against a CEO if they gather even a whiff of concern in any of these areas. Conversely, as long as a CEO gains the board’s confidence with a rock-solid picture of integrity and financial controls and puts this into the context of a sound strategic agenda, she will have the board’s support, especially in the early days of her new role.

Yet CEOs can't just demand that board members engage more closely with them. “You have to lead the board,” Piyush Gupta said, “and persuade them of the direction you want to take the company, but at the same time, they are the bosses. It’s not straightforward.” Further complicating the relationship is that the CEO generally does not know who on the board supported them for the job and who did not.

Building strong relationships with your board members is another top priority of a new CEO. Yes, you’ve gone through an intensive interview process with them, and they’ve just selected you. But in the words of one CEO: “You won't know if you were selected by an inch or a mile.” Some directors may disagree with your vision and plans; some may even be dead set against you, but won’t share those sentiments with you.

Once you’re attending board meetings, you can strengthen your relationship with the group if you don’t do too much talking. Instead, prompt discussion by asking directors plenty of questions. The boardroom is one room where the temptation to prove you’re the smartest person in the room can be especially strong but especially off-putting.

Ann Hackett advises really engaging directors in ongoing problem-solving. “A CEO should share the biggest challenges and want the board’s thinking about them.” She’s seen some make the mistake of thinking “they have to have solved everything, and they shouldn’t bring problems to the board.” But for the relationship to work optimally, “you have to be able to go to deep places and challenge one another.” You want to be doing all you can to ensure that the board is, as she put it, “a learning organism.” She recommends regularly providing them high-quality information about what the company, and the industry, is facing. Also help them “get close to the business and customers,” which a CEO can facilitate in many ways, such as by setting up factory visits or meetings with members of the management team. If you do this extra work, she advises, “then a board thinks differently about everything they’re doing. Governance becomes more strategic. Risk becomes more strategic.