I help enhance Leadership performance to create value in PE/VC and privately owned start ups/scale ups and SMEs as a Chair/NED l Leadership Mentor I Portfolio Director l PE Advisor I Board Advisor l Investor.
Are you ready and prepared in order to serve on a Board? What behaviours and skills are needed to succeed? In the HBR article written by Anthony Hesketh, Jo Sellwood-Taylor and Sharon Mullen, it lays out that there are 5 types of intelligence aspiring Board members need to cultivate, namely: ➡ Financial Fundamentals ➡ Strategic Thinking ➡ Relationship Building ➡ Understanding your role ➡ Cultural Awareness Whilst I cannot argue with any of the above mentioned types of intelligence, and the authors go into more depth on each in the article, I do feel that the intelligence in 'understanding your role' warrants more attention. Over the last 7 years as a Non-Executive Director and Chair, with 5 of those also in a full time Executive Leadership position I was afforded the opportunity to directly compare and contrast the role of an Executive Director to a Non-Executive Director. The term 'nose in, hands out' references the need to move from an operational mindset to one of a strategic nature and that is clearly key. In Chairing four different Boards, each with multiple stakeholders, I feel the need to adapt to the different cultural landscapes at each business is also essential as there is no 'one size fits all' approach in this regard. However, for me, there are two key aspects of being a Non-Executive Board Director that are absolutely crucial to be successful: 💡 The role of 'critical friend' - being able to navigate the delicate balance of both holding leadership to account from a performance and governance perspective with actively offering support, encouragement and sage advice where and when appropriate. 💡 The ability to focus - undertaking a portfolio career when you may sit on several Boards means having both the discipline to focus on each company and read the Board pack ahead of the meeting to ensure you can ask meaningful questions but also to possess the agility to mentally move from one company to another as and when the need arises and ensure you offer the appropriate support. ❓ What other elements would you suggest? #ned #nonexecutivedirector #board #effectiveboardmember #hbr #harvardbusinessreview #blackdogleadership
There are five types of intelligence that aspiring board members need to cultivate: 1. Financial fundamentals 2. Strategic thinking 3. Relationship building 4. Understanding your role 5. Cultural awareness
