HOPE Is Not The Road To The Boardroom – Steps Toward Landing A Corporate Board Position

By Jack Stuhlreyer

Most rising and senior business executives have either past or current aspirations of serving on a company’s board of directors. While accomplishment in their current career ascension can effectively carve a path to a board appointment, the very demands of achievement on behalf of one’s employer may regularly interrupt, if not derail, plans toward such. This set of suggestions results from observations, readings and experience interfacing with both executives who have board aspirations, as well as those seeking new appointees for public and private boards. As an Executive and Professional Recruiting firm, HGI has been working with senior corporate leaders for nearly three decades. The firm has placed numerous business leaders on either corporate boards or not-for-profit boards.

Twenty years ago, this was helping clients find and evaluate candidates. Today, while clients can still tap our database of such talent, HGI is regularly involved with advising executives regarding the achievement of this aspiration. Most such council of course is similar and complimentary to suggestions provided relative to career ascension. In other words, much of the following is just good practice – relative to one’s career considering the dynamics of the economy, technology and global change.

With work-life balance always a valid consideration, the sum total time commitment needed by the following steps can mean one either starts early in a career to enable a more gradual time allocation or concentrates extra priority on these steps later in career life. Still, it all starts with understanding that this is most often a game, i.e. journey of “singles” as opposed to “homeruns”. Even “bunting”, as finding and landing advisory opportunities, maybe small at first, can often lead to board seats. And the only role of HOPE is to motivate attaining awareness of what is beneficial to increasing one’s chances.

1. Evaluate one’s own motivations toward landing a board role.

What is your core motive and how strong is the aspiration? Of course, keep in mind all the old bromides around the realities of life. How does this fit your employment, personal and social life, and priorities? Do so as you consider what needs to be accomplished around attaining qualifications to be chosen for a board of directors’ position.

Learn what those qualifications are that the various types of boards seek. It differs by board and company or institution most certainly. Some individuals may set their goal at the small or medium corporate level, or even to serve a not-for-profit charity or educational institution. Keep in mind that swinging for home runs usually leads to striking out. So, the typical suggestion is to pick examples of target boards and learn about their current board membership’s resumes. This is increasingly easy either on the business or entities website or via public databases like LinkedIn. Of course, the common denominator relative to adding members to committees and boards is the pursuit of broadening the group’s ability to provide advice from a particularly sought perspective.

Learn and maintain awareness of what board service entails. Some means include various publications, online courses, and even collage programs. Become aware of the legal aspects as well as the time commitment, both of which differ broadly from one board and type to another.

2. Expand your network to showcase your availability for advising, consulting, and serving.

Serve, Meet, and Learn. Remember, the process is akin to hitting singles. Participate in industry and business organizations. This can include taking classes related to one’s job, product type, and industry. While this is obvious as a network expansion means, some may not assign the needed priority to it. Certainly, take such continuing education courses for the subject matter covered, but also to meet other class members. Learn about their employers, as well as to expand awareness of yourself in multiple directions. Make your experience and abilities known through industry meetings and organizations. Maybe even through committee service or leadership.

Mentor, and provide council to businesses, institutions, organizations, and similar. Connect to local companies through business organizations like C of C, NSBA, or similar. Smaller companies and Start-Ups often need outside advisors and even board directors. Learn, gather credentials, and expand your network.

Overall, just become alert to, and actively seek out opportunities to provide your skills, formally or informally. Of course, keep in mind your employment and related legal parameters.

3. Expand one’s network beyond work-related.

Get involved in local community, government, and church committees. All such volunteering is good for networking as well as building your experience qualifications. Local town, city, and county advisory boards often seek members, some having open positions most times. These usually represent just a time commitment. Additionally, churches or similar community entities often seek advisory committee or board members.

While such volunteering accelerates one’s network broadening, it can lead to “meeting” smaller local businesses that are seeking advisors or even board members. Social, sports and other similar groups can broaden your network and opportunities in comparable ways.

Even if these don’t lead to a local business board opportunity, experience serving these types of organizations is almost always foundational to building one’s boardroom skills. They can help you develop the right demeanor for such group relations relative to meetings, decisions, and achievements with a broader diversity of people’s backgrounds than one may deal with at work. Such successful experience becomes part of your board qualification and accomplishment profile.

4. Build your “board service experience” via not-for-profit boards.

Maybe serve on the board of your alma mater, but be aware that some private schools, colleges, and universities seek those who are not graduates or otherwise aligned to serve on advisory committees and at times even boards of trustees, specifically to broaden the available experience base. Of course, expect donation requirements as well as participation in fundraising. The networking can be exceptional, and the experience is a checkmark in qualifications.

Most national charities have local chapters with boards that can be easier on which to land a position, while a notable opportunity to meet other business leaders. Again, expect donation and fund-raising requirements. Smaller charities can be good first steps in this type of board opportunity and require less ‘commitment’.

Both of these are strong means of broadening one’s network toward opening doors to private sector boards. Plus, sometimes one’s employer will assist with the donations.

5. Plan your board campaign, and the core elements needed.

Of course, like all plans, it starts with a situation analysis. What are one’s current and still needed qualifications and tools? Consider these against your target board category, as noted above. Needless to say, it is a continuing process, best reviewed and updated regularly; at least annually. How well are you known, while more importantly how strong is your bio of experience and most significantly are your accomplishments?

As to a board bio, there are lots of formats and advice to be considered. The first rule is always that the subject of the bio needs to be totally comfortable with the bio, all aspects. While education and experience are the basis of qualifications, ACHIEVEMENTS are the verification of one’s ability to provide value to a board. Questions regarding bio content and format tend to be one of the areas around board pursuit which HGI receives regularly from executives.

Maybe assemble one version that specifically serves to land interviews. In such cases, keep in mind that accomplishment headlines are often more effective in grabbing the attention of that proverbial scanning eye (the infamous ‘20-second rule’). Effective brevity that lends to a reader wanting to learn additional about you is recommended. Then a second board bio version to be more thorough, a bit more fully portraying one’s successes; more traditional in content of information that can fulfill a request for such, while then further elaborated upon at the interview. Never err to the unabridged. Leave plenty of explanation for the desired oral exchange where both parties evaluate the other to determine a likely fit.

Make sure your Online presence reflects qualifications to be an advisor as well as a board member. It’s usually best to keep these brief, while accomplishments factual; again, with the objective of getting a reader to want to meet you. A good rule is to assure consistency in message and format to the extent practical between Bio, CVs, and Internet – LinkedIn, for instance.

Virtually everyone networks in various ways, and some less common means of this are noted above. Planning your campaign needs to include tactical steps to being known at the right time and for the right reasons. Above we covered some tactics that both increase one’s qualifications as well as one’s contacts. Additionally, what more immediate contacts can you make that could lead to board opportunities? Certain executives in your employer, past employer, as well as others more accessible maybe. HGI maintains a database of those known to have board aspirations, and other executive recruiters do as well. At the same time, increasingly fewer boards enlist the help of recruiting firms to find board candidates, as they depend more on current board members or executives of their company to refer or recommend such prospects. The same is usually the case with educational institutions and charities.

Identify and appropriately maintain contact with those who can facilitate your awareness campaign. They may have interest if not insight regarding available openings, while some boards keep a file of prospects for when needed. It is usually good practice to set reminders to update each. How professionally well you keep your network fresh will of course likely affect your chances of being considered.

Wrapping up. Adjust your plan as well as tactical steps of implementation according to where you are in your career. This is obvious to anyone who sees themselves as a prospective board member. As your qualification credentials increase, turn your time and resources allocated to this journey toward seeking opportunities. Back to where these suggestions started, if you’re earlier in your career focus on assembling the experience and accomplishment credentials. As your career progresses, focus on increasing and maybe narrowing your network of contacts needing to be maintained, which can lead to you receiving board consideration. Pick target businesses, institutions, consultants, or such with which to make oneself known. Don’t just HOPE to hit a home run. And always be open to advisory roles that might surface prior to an offer to join their board.

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