TOYIN11 Nov 2026Tom, I think you're confusing demographic homogeneity with groupthink. They are not interchangeable concepts.Groupthink is a psychological and organisational phenomenon where the desire for consensus, harmony or conformity suppresses critical evaluation and independent judgement. It isn't established simply by pointing out that people share the same gender, race, approximate age or professional background, or by making assumptions about their political or social outlook from their internet footprint.Those characteristics might raise legitimate questions about the breadth of perspectives around a boardroom table, but they don't demonstrate that dissent is discouraged, alternative views are suppressed or decisions are being reached without proper challenge.In fact, I'd argue that the more relevant test is whether directors have genuinely different professional experiences, areas of expertise, independent judgement and a willingness to challenge one another. The current SBTX board has distinct financial, operational, commercial and governance backgrounds, and was brought together in the wake of serious governance failures.I'm perfectly familiar with the concept of groupthink. My point is that you haven't demonstrated it exists at SBTX; you've simply identified demographic similarities and inferred a behavioural outcome from them. That's quite a leap.Perhaps we should judge the board on the quality of its decisions, the degree of challenge it demonstrates and the results it delivers, rather than assume that people who look or think similarly must necessarily think collectively. Lets not forget the last BOD, Martin Hunt, Stuart Ashman, Dr Cathy Prescott, Danielle Bekker, Manprit Singh Randhawa, and Simon Hewitson. That's quite divers, that ended well!
