I was appointed to my first two corporate boards on the same day, less than a year into my search. To the casual observer, I must have discovered a magical Hogwarts Sorting Hat for directors — and I’ve since met with many aspiring board members seeking such wizardry.
There were no supernatural forces behind my story. My journey to the boardroom started with taking a hard look in the mirror to determine what value I could add and in what board contexts. Then I embarked on a campaign of purposeful networking to connect with potential board opportunities.
What is Purposeful Networking?
Successful professionals understand the power of networking in building their careers. It is even more critical in the board search process. Most boards are small (9-10) with fairly stable memberships, leading to infrequent openings. Whether a search firm is involved or not, the recruitment process typically starts by polling existing directors for referrals. Connecting with the right people at the right time is critical to getting into a board’s pipeline.
Purposeful networking starts with clarity on how you can contribute meaningfully to board discussions and which boards will ascribe the greatest significance to your perspective. Your distinctiveness is grounded in how you translate your career and life experiences to their context; governance designations (e.g., NACD Directorship Certification®) can be additive but are not substitutes for relevant skills and experience.
As you consider which boards to target, be realistic about your draw radius:
- Ownership structure is key: “Like seeks like” (whether public, private/family, private equity, start-up, etc.), especially for a first-time board member.
- Size matters: Not what size you want to serve but what size of a company you will be seen as qualified to serve based on your prior C-suite roles. Boards are the “boss of the CEO” so you must have achieved peer-level status.
- Industry varies: Always need to be conversant on the business essentials but a board’s bespoke need may place greater emphasis on functional or other special skills that can be drawn from a broader industry domain (e.g., manufacturing, retail, financial).
- Geography can be a must-have or a nice-to-have: Companies with substantial international operations or growth aspirations often view the non-US experience as a requirement; others see regional diversity among directors’ backgrounds as a bonus.
- Spotlight on identity diversity: Increased scrutiny of board composition might elevate attention paid to women and other under-represented minorities.
Ultimately, not everyone who aspires to board service has the necessary background to serve on a corporate board. For many, a nonprofit or association board may be their best target. Leverage purposeful networking conversations to assess critically your board prospects and be prepared to sharpen your focus or reset your aspirations.
The Power of the Matrix
Any networking exercise starts with thinking expansively about potential contacts (100 or more), but the purposeful networker is strategic about categorizing and prioritizing those connections that are best suited to advance their board journey.
True to my consulting roots, I sketched the two-by-two matrix depicted below, where the horizontal axis was “Willingness to help” and the vertical axis was “Ability to help” with my board journey. Then I populated the matrix with potential connections (business, community, university, etc.). My goal was to find those who were both motivated and able to help me connect with companies that fit my board targeting criteria.
As you embark on a purposeful networking exercise, differentiate your efforts across the quadrants of the matrix:
- Activate A’s (upper right) — the category of connections where there is high motivation to help and ample board-level influence to wield. This is the sweet spot of your networking efforts. Unfortunately, the list may not be sufficient to guarantee success anytime soon. Executives nearing the end of their full-time careers often find that their strongest mentors and champions have long since retired or shifted their focus to non-profit causes (de facto shifting them down to B’s).
- Brainstorm with B’s (bottom right) — often current or former colleagues who are your biggest fans but who are not in the relevant deal flow or may never have pursued board service. Early conversations with them can still be invaluable in crystallizing your value proposition and contact strategy. But their ability to connect you with real opportunities is limited. The bulk of your networking efforts is best invested elsewhere.
- Cultivate C’s (top left) — group that has the best visibility into future board openings although you are not top of mind. Sitting directors dominate this box: the most influential are CEOs, board chairs, and nominating and governance committee chairs. Your contacts here might be dated, casual acquaintances, shared but weak bonds (e.g., same university or past employer), or other arms-length connections. How you approach them matters: you are not interviewing for a job but are seeking to become their peer in the board room. Modesty doesn’t cut it: you have to raise your visibility with the C’s. I had to go outside my comfort zone to reconnect with distant colleagues who had since become CEOs or to ask a mutual friend to make the right introduction. Board search professionals generally fit here but their role is more transactional: they are mainly interested if you fit a current board search spec. Your stronger bond is likely on the executive search side with someone you’ve retained or who has recruited or placed you in prior roles. Make them (as B’s) aware of your board aspirations so they can facilitate a warm introduction to their colleagues (the C’s) in active searches.
- De-emphasize D’s (bottom left) — professional acquaintances with whom you primarily share an affinity interest, such as the pursuit of a board seat. Women and minorities are at risk of getting trapped here based on the prevalence of special interest groups of individuals “like them” who are trying to break into the deal flow. I have personally benefitted from the education and moral support of my women’s networks but only a few of the individuals fall in the upper half of my matrix.
Managing the Matrix
The search for a board seat can take several years of purposeful networking to bear fruit. Whereas the search for a new executive position might start broad but converges on a single role, a board search also involves constantly balancing a chessboard of contacts and options.
This difference requires a diligent “bi-focal approach” to stay on top of both near and distant actions. I thought of this process as my personal CRM.
- Relationships tracker: I kept detailed records on each contact with six “buckets” for tracking: initial matrix placement research, outreach strategy for making a connection, inevitable scheduling process, personal interaction (mix of phone, Zoom, in-person), thanks/documented actions, and follow-up on actions. Some contacts proved to be more valuable than others but each step was vital to cultivating powerful connections to advance my search and ensure that no board leads were lost along the way.
- Deal flow pipeline: Strategically growing my network enabled me to construct a pipeline of potential board options, analogous to how a board builds its candidate pipeline. I discovered active searches and also had meaningful conversations with directors whose boards were unlikely to have openings for several years. I logged both extremes as possibilities. My two same-day board appointments were each the result of purposeful networking with B’s that connected me with C’s (one a board chair, another a board search peer of industry sector head). Interestingly, my third board came less than a year later from discussions with a board that had no openings — until a director unexpectedly resigned to take the CEO helm at a large public company.
I recently came across the title of a poem by Marianne Moore (1915) whose title aptly summed up the thoughts shared here: Diligence is to Magic as Progress is to Flight. My hope in sharing my journey is that your purposeful, diligent efforts will create the magic that enables your board career to take off.