As we recover from the street parties, supermarket offers, television programmes and countless references to the jubilee, we thought it would be well worth taking a reflective look at the example set for us by Her Majesty the Queen who has celebrated sixty years on the throne this week.

Whether you are a royalist or not, we can all agree that being in a position of such public influence and prominence brings with it many challenges similar to those we face in business or at the head of organisations, as chairs of boards and governance practitioners. Decisions that you make are likely to have an impact on several people you don't know- mainly your customers or stakeholders. Similarly, over her time as monarch, Queen Elizabeth II has made decisions that have had international effect. In doing so, she has had to surround herself with people who could advise her from a position of wisdom and understanding of her role and the potential impact of any such decision.

In business, as chairs, CEOs and other leaders with strategic responsibility, in order to promote good governance it is essential that we surround ourselves with people who will challenge our ideals, help us to make good, socially conscious decisions which endeavour to "promote the lasting success of the company" in line with section A of the UK Corporate Governance Code.

The Queen has reigned for sixty years, through the ups and downs the country has seen and kept her reputation and dignity intact. To this end, as Queen of the Commonwealth, she has lead the Royal Family to a place where they have celebrity status, generating income for the nation by keeping the family in good stead with a good name.

The reputation of your company will heavily depend on the quality of your governance. With integrity, transparency, openness and honesty being key principles of good governance, maintaining these values and operating in them will undoubtedly help to preserve the reputation of your company or organisation. We know for sure that you can be offering cutting edge products and services but if the reputation of your company or organisation is poor then your business will suffer.

What the Queen has also managed to do it transcend the impact of her reputation across the generations. Last week children across the country spoke of Jubilee school parties and activities in their droves. The British Monarchy have an active and quite informative Twitter account which has taken full advantage of making the ordinary person feel special this weekend quoting and retweeting countless numbers of 'ordinary' moments during what turned out to be an extraordinary set of celebratory events. For the generations of her reign, the Queen has succeeded in keeping everyone interested.

Our 'Four for the Future' governance concept relates to this quite aptly. In seeking to 'promote the development of governance principles and practice by investing in the next generation of leaders', we must ensure as leaders that we include younger generations in our development, whether this be customer base, young board members or aspiring entrepreneurs around us. In their book 'Built to Last- Successful Habits of Visionary Companies', Jim Collins and Jerry Porras continually draw reference to the quality of leaders developed from within the company who are given the scope to be autonomous and creative leading to employees full of vision, thus driving visionary companies to lasting success.
There are myriad of ways in which individually, as company and organisational leaders and collectively as leaders from all sectors we can govern our organisations well and transcend the boundaries of time such as done by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Hers is a wonderful example of lasting success!

In conclusion, your position of leadership is your throne. Reign wisely!

Until next time!