At the same time, pandemic-accelerated shifts in the political, social, and economic spheres put a spotlight on corporate purpose and strategy. While key corporate stakeholders granted a partial "Covid Truce" in 2020, companies and boards now face new standards of accountability and new expectations of corporate behavior. Boards must assess new risks to company strategy and consider corporate responses to subjects such as equality, diversity, sustainability, and relationship with governments.

In this environment, general counsel need to ensure their board has the oversight, skills, knowledge, and processes necessary to effectively advise the organization through disruption and change. That will mean advising on changing expectations of corporate behavior, on managing directors as a strategic asset, and on building resilient board processes. Gartner identified six guiding principles through which general counsel can improve board effectiveness in 2021.

• ESG is the process by which to consider shareholder expectations

ESG practices and risks are important to a range of stakeholders and an increasingly important feature of corporate risk and governance disclosures.  90% of public company GC will report to the board on ESG in 2021, a higher percentage than those who plan to report on more "traditional" legal subject matters such as risk assessment results, litigation, and legal and regulatory changes. Further, over 40% of public company GC cited environment and corporate sustainability as one of most important areas of board oversight in 2021.

ESG shouldn't be a bolt-on report or program — it's the process of rationalizing all stakeholders' corporate expectations. ESG should be the lens through which the board views stakeholder and environmental impact on strategy. But today, only half of both public and non-public companies assess stakeholder impact and only 20% of companies include ESG goals in their company's charter. The GC must ensure that the board understands stakeholder perspectives, account for ESG goals in strategic plans and financial targets and uses ESG frames to balance stakeholder demands.