Hr Library
Trending

5 Tips for Women Who Want A Corporate Board Seat

Source | fortune.com | DANIELLE ABRIL

Getting a seat on a corporate board can be tricky for women. The bar to qualify is high, opportunities are slim, and getting a foot in the door is sometimes tougher than it is for their male counterparts. But now is the best time for women to capitalize on corporations’ need for a more balanced board, a panel of current female board members said at Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women Next Gen summit.

“This is becoming part of the criteria,” said Kara Gustafson, treasurer and board member for PL+US, a nonprofit advocating for national paid family leave. “Many people are looking at: is this a diverse board?”

The women, all of whom have worked with or for executives of big public companies, had several pieces of advice. Here’s what they had to say: 

1. Start with nonprofit boards

Nonprofit boards can serve as the entry point to corporate boards. 

Organizations often are “craving” for people with expertise that can help spur growth, Gustafson said. And the experience women get serving on the nonprofit’s board can often help them make the case for themselves when they’re ready to vie for a corporate board seat.

“Serving on a nonprofit board may seem like an easier segue,” Gustafson said, adding that corporate boards can often feel “intimidating.” Women can “take that confidence and apply that to a corporate board.”

Nonprofit board members often have to deal with complicated and tight budgets, marketing and communications strategies, and diversity and inclusion issues. All of these skills will be critical to the same job on a corporate board.

“It certainly helps a lot,” said Cho Suh. “It shows you’ve managed the portfolio of nonexecutive and executive responsibility.”

2. Do your research

As Seka says: There’s a lot more to being a board member than sitting and getting paid four times a year. Board members have a high level of responsibility to look out for the best interests of the company or organization.

That’s why it’s imperative that aspiring board members do their research, Cho Suh said. Candidates should know who’s on the board, what expertise those members provide, what the company or organization needs, and be able to identify the gaps. You should also be aware of the often long commitments, sometimes 10 years or longer, that come with corporate board seats.

“You can do a lot of research in advance,” said Cho Suh. “You have to really think about time and people.”

And some of that research includes asking yourself why you want to be on the board, Seka said. 

“Are you doing it for cache, for money, because you care?” she said. “Ask yourself that. That will help you target the companies you want to work for.”

3. Work your network

Just as professional networks are tapped for job leads, they should also be leveraged for board seats.

“The first thing you need to do is vocalize to your network that you’re interested,” Cho Suh said. 

And that can be as simple as updating a LinkedIn profile, said Gardner of Heidrick & Struggles, a global executive search firm. Aspiring corporate board members should focus on highlighting that goal versus their current day job.

“It helps change the dialogue around your story,” Gardner said. 

And if aspiring board members don’t have a network of relevant contacts, they can create a networking strategy. Seka suggests making a list of the five companies you want to target for a board set. Then begin networking with people who work there and be honest about your goal.

Sometimes casual conversations turn into introductions, dinners, meet ups, which in turn could result in a board seat.

That’s how Cho Suh ended up on the board of DocuSign—by having a casual conversation within her network about an interview she had for a board seat for another company. 

“It ended up pivoting,” she said. “And I ended up on board at DocuSign. So have the conversations.”

Click here to read the full article

Source
fortune.com
Show More

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button