What comes is a not quite just yet elaborated series of thought that were triggered by some accidental, recent and fortunate observations I was fortunate enough to come across.
I put them here as a way to maybe! add to the conversations around the roles of board, board directors, and the diversity of their backgrounds. Individually, but also as a group.
Most boards are composed of former or present CEOs, CFO and other C-suite executives.
People, hence, with a long track record of ‘getting stuff’ done. But also with an equally long-track record of not being particularly keen on being questioned, while at the same time being used at having the last word in decisions.
A board’s role however is very different from that of an executive.
It’s not about getting stuff done ‘hands in the dirt’, but rather ensuring that the executives know how, where and it what way to get their hands dirty.
On the top level therefore, a board’s role is about getting executives to think outside their usual everyday hamster wheel.
On a more operational level the board’s role is remaining open minded on the best path for the company to take, and therefore to show that kind of curiosity when interacting with senior management: asking those overly simple questions that give interesting answers, digging deep into rationales, values, hopes, expectations, shut up doubts, and personal agendas. And by doing so both supporting the executives to do the right thing overall and for the company specifically, while also ensuring alignment with the company overall, and a non-egocentric management style.
Many of these skills are exactly how coaches have to work with their clients. The good ones at least. Interestingly enough, there are some extraordinary business coaches out there that leverage their former track record in the military, in executive careers, as CEOs or entrepreneurs. They have chosen to be no longer in the traditional corporate world themselves, but rather chosen to be the type of sparing partner that boards should, or at least could, be for their senior management. A step up from successful mentoring if you wish.
So – maybe another diversity ingredient when recruiting board members is look at their mentoring experience at the very least, Or indeed look at candidates that are no longer in the thick of corporate life, but have been in their past, but instead have risen above the parapet because they have become valuable and to a degree untypical sparing partners for a company’s ‘deep thinking’ processes.
Nothing more than a few thoughts.
