The ability to stand back from the day-to-day running of the business and focus on strategic, objective decision-making processes can prove tricky for many company owners but it is a common feature of truly successful businesses, no matter their size. Clarendon Executive’s Ciaran Sheehan examines the considerable impact a good non-exec can make and why many of Northern Ireland’s start-ups and SMEs aren’t realising their potential quickly enough.

It used to be that you’d only find non-executive directors walking the corridors of the larger or public organisations big enough to have a governance agenda.

More recently, however, the important role non-execs can play in companies of all sizes is increasingly recognised, and whilst it is accepted that what is required