An Audience With: Patrick Dunne

Patrick Dunne kindly appeared as a guest on a second Audience With event to cover the important topic: Managing conflict at Board level and beyond.

During this session, Patrick provided a wide range of valuable insights, including:

• The role of the Board;
• The role of Executives;
• The role of sub-committees;
• Alignment of Board and management team;
• A model for Board effectiveness;
• Improving your self-awareness;
• How to deal with dominant individuals;
• Creating a balanced approach;
• Cultural differences;
• Managing conflict;
• Sources of power;
• Creating influence;
• First instincts when facing conflict;
• Catastrophe theory;
• And much more…!

Patrick Dunne has extensive experience of working with boards around the world in the business, public body, education and social sectors. He Chairs board consultancy Boardelta and the charities EY Foundation and ESSA – Education Sub Saharan Africa. He is a Trustee of the Chartered Management Institute, a Visiting Professor at Cranfield and the Founder of Warwick in Africa.

He was a member of the Higgs Review and is a regular contributor to board skills programmes, including the Financial Times Board Director Programme. His executive career was with Air Products and FTSE100 3i Group plc where he was a member of its operating committee. He has a degree in Mathematics and Statistics from Warwick and an MBA from Cranfield.

Patrick is author of the recently published book: 

Boards: A Practical Perspective

The book is split into three areas, ‘Purpose’, ‘People’ and ‘Process’ reflecting the three key areas of concern for any board. This is combined with the fourth section which sets out a series of real life dilemmas for readers to practice on, making this book an ideal companion for anyone who is an aspirant, novice or seasoned board member. Drawing on Patrick’s extensive range of experience working with and on boards in many sectors, in the UK and internationally, it is equally applicable to business, charities and social enterprises, professional services firms, public bodies and universities. The book is also written in a highly accessible and engaging style that brings life and fun to what is a very serious topic.