When a private company needs a new board member, the search often starts the same way.
Who do we know?
The CEO has a few names. Board members suggest a few more. Someone knows a retired executive who might be interested. Before long, there’s a list of potential candidates.
That approach isn’t inherently wrong. One of those people may be exactly who the board needs.
But starting with names skips an important step.
Before asking who should join the board, ask what the board needs next. Here are four things to consider before you start making a list of names.
1. Start with the business, not the candidate
A board seat is an opportunity to add something the company doesn’t already have.
Maybe the business is preparing for an ownership transition. Maybe it’s entering a new market, considering an acquisition, or moving into the next generation of family leadership. Perhaps the company has grown significantly, but the board hasn’t changed along with it.
The right director for the company five years ago may not be the right director for where the company is headed now.
That’s why a board search should begin with the business itself.
Where is the company going? What challenges are likely to come with that growth or transition? What experience already exists around the board table? Just as important, what’s missing?
Those answers should shape the search.
2. Look beyond your existing network
For many private and family-owned businesses, relationships have helped build the company. Owners and executives know many talented people, and referrals from trusted colleagues carry weight.
But relying primarily on those relationships creates a naturally limited candidate pool.
It can also make it harder to see what the board actually needs. When a familiar or impressive name comes up early in the process, it’s easy to begin evaluating the opportunity around that person.
A better approach is to define the need first.
That may mean looking for someone with experience scaling a business, navigating succession, leading through an acquisition or understanding a market the company plans to enter. It may mean adding a perspective that simply isn’t represented on the current board.
Once that profile is clear, the question changes from “Who do we know?” to “Who best fits what we need?”
That’s a much bigger search.
3. Don’t let an impressive résumé make the decision
Board recruitment isn’t executive recruitment with fewer meetings.
An accomplished CEO or senior executive may bring valuable experience to a board, but experience alone isn’t enough. Directors need to know how to ask difficult questions, challenge assumptions and offer perspective without stepping into management’s role.
There’s also chemistry to consider.
How will this person work with the CEO? With the owners? With other directors? Can the candidate disagree productively? Listen? Understand the distinction between offering guidance and running the company?
Those qualities are difficult to determine from a résumé or a recommendation from someone you know.
They matter once everyone is sitting around the same table.
4. Think beyond the open seat
The goal of a board search isn’t simply to fill a vacancy.
It’s to make the board stronger.
That requires looking beyond the immediate opening and thinking about what the company will need from its board in the years ahead. A thoughtful search can add experience, perspective and capabilities that help the board respond not only to today’s challenges, but to the ones the business hasn’t encountered yet.
Sometimes the right person will already be in your network.
Sometimes you won’t know that person at all.
Either way, the search shouldn’t begin with a name.
It should begin with a question:
What does our board need next?
Ready to start the conversation?
Cardinal Board Services helps companies identify what they need from their board and find the right people to fill those roles.
If you’re considering adding a director or thinking about what your board needs next, we’d welcome the conversation.