The Ethical Challenges of Blended Roles

Advisors, beware!

The growth in specialised advisory boards is both spectacular and unsurprising. In response to the demands of growth, change, and increasing complexity, boards are being called upon by organisations to address and inform opportunities and risks associated with their goals and ambitions. This normalised activity is becoming commonplace in how organisations operate, by bringing outside independent thinking in.

However, with the increasing demand for specialists on advisory boards, organisations are now turning to “generalists” to establish and Chair multiple advisory boards within their overall strategy over a long period of time.

The State of the Market Report 2025 – 2027 identified this trend and raises the potential ethical challenges it poses.

The challenge is shaped by multiple factors operating simultaneously:

• The foundation to relationships between an organisation and the generalist chair is based on trust.
• Independence and expert facilitation are required.
• The term of engagements is becoming longer and deeper, and the blending of roles is occurring where advisory, consulting and executive execution is blurred.
• This creates ethical challenges of bias, increased influence and lack of independence over time. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

As advisory demand soars, we mustn’t lose sight of our ethical standing.

Why are blended roles an ethical issue?

The foundations of trust are undermined as soon as there is a lack of independence or a conflict of interest. Both are foundational when it comes to impactful advisory boards.

In May 2026, we will be releasing the Rates and Engagement Report for 2026 – 2028.  The largest global study of its kind, we will be looking deeply at the ethics debate of blended roles and other key factors facing the sector today.

If you are in the advisory board sector, either as a Chair, Advisor, Organisational Sponsor or Secretariat, we highly recommend you read the report and engage with the prompted discussions – it’s an opportunity to make practical use of the insights and think critically about your day-to-day engagement in the field.

I treasure my role as the Chair of the Global Research Institute, the research division of the Advisory Board Centre. As the global professional body for the sector, it’s our job to encourage the global community to continually challenge ourselves, to be better at what we do, and to sense-check best practice and the evolution of the sector.

As advisory demand soars, we mustn’t lose sight of our ethical standing. Advisors, beware: treat blended roles carefully.