CEO clients consult with us regularly about how to create a structure of support so they can continue to lead their companies powerfully. Our quick answer: Since it starts at the top, why not strengthen your board of directors and advisory boards?

Responsibilities and Challenges

One of the many critical responsibilities of a CEO is to build the organization’s senior leadership team. We believe that CEOs do not start high enough in this effort. They need to begin by examining the strengths and weaknesses of the board of directors. Restructuring or expanding the board can help leaders by connecting them to senior executives with specific technical, industry or geographic/regional knowledge that can help the company accelerate growth opportunities and avoid costly mistakes in formulating its strategic approach.

These boards can also be a challenge for many CEOs. In large, publicly-held companies, a CEO may have as many as 2-3 separate boards overseeing their operations, making it tedious and difficult to get major decisions approved (e.g., acquisitions, capital expenditures, strategic plans). In these cases, it is critical for CEOs to establish rapport with key board members outside of the meetings, utilize them as counsel in preparing board agenda items, and understand who the “power brokers" are, to make sure key issues and decisions are socialized before they get to the board meeting.

Creating Advisory Boards

Establishing advisory boards in a specific area (i.e., branding or corporate development/M&A) is also a best practice we have seen many CEOs utilize successfully. This is especially common in venture capital and early-stage companies in which founders need support in establishing their company’s brand, brand positioning and other elements of the market strategy. With so much at stake, and limited capital resources, it makes sense to access the best minds before committing to a strategy that might cause the company to fail if it is unsuccessful.

The boards of our association and non-profit clients are especially critical because there is typically a fundraising aspect to board members’ role. “Give, get or get out" is the mantra we heard from one CEO in this sector, and it pretty much sums up one of the expectations of serving on a non-profit board.

Joining a Board

We also coach a number of CEO clients who are actively seeking to join boards of smaller, emerging companies, especially in hot growth areas such as new media/digital marketing and database marketing. Once a CEO has been performing well in his or her business for four to five years (or longer), the ability to join two or three well-chosen outside boards gives the CEO access to a “peer group" to learn from and utilize informally for counsel on key business issues.

Serving on outside boards also adds to the value of a CEO’s personal brand. It can be a useful strategy to position CEOs and get them known in communities (i.e., broader contacts within the present industry, exposure to private equity firms) that can help them identify their next CEO opportunity.

Time to Take Inventory of Your Board?

If you are a CEO who has not examined your board of directors recently, or has been troubled by aspects of dealing with your board, we highly recommend you dig into this area with the goal of utilizing the board to improve your performance and the company’s growth prospects. Ask yourself some of these questions:

1. Who’s contributing, who’s not? What does contribution look like to you anyway?
2. Is there a clear understanding of what members’ roles are?
3. Which board members have skills and experience relevant to the company’s future growth strategies and plans?
4. What’s missing on the current board? Who is missing?
5. Who would you add to the board if one or two of the present board members resigned?
6. Who is on your wish list of board members?
7. How can you best utilize your board to support your personal brand?
8. What can you do to create “raving fans" of you and your company?
9. Is your board a match for your leadership style?
10. Where do you see your board in three to five years? Are they a match for your strategic plan?

Since it starts at the top, how your board operates is a reflection of how your company will ultimately serve its customers.

As always, we welcome your input and would like to hear your experiences about working with boards of directors, serving on boards or building advisory boards.

Please share with us your experiences and thinking on this critically important topic.

Jeff