The Ms. CEO Show

Whew! Today’s show was jam-packed with incredibly valuable information for both women entrepreneurs and corporate careerwomen who wish to be recruited to corporate boards. It was also valuable for men who own businesses, or work at companies that lack women in leadership in large numbers, because the evidence of the difference that inclusion of women in leadership makes is substantial. We had a stellar line-up of guests:

• Wendy Beecham, CEO of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives;
• Bob Pearson, 30-year senior level executive recruiter and principal of Pearson Partners International;
• Susan Colantuono, the CEO and Founder of Leading Women and its Women on Boards program, and author of the soon-to-be-released book, “No Ceiling, No Walls: What Women Haven’t Been Told about Leadership from Career Start to the Corporate Boardroom”; and
• Jacqui Brandwynne, President and CEO of the Brandwynne Corp, and a business strategy and marketing expert—and turnaround specialist—in the health, beauty and banking industries, among others.

Each of these guests shared a compelling perspective, and wise and knowledgable bit of substance regarding why more women are not on boards, the difference that it could make for women to be on boards, and how we should prepare and present ourselves to be selected for boards. I learned SO much!

We’ll have a feature article on this topic in the upcoming issue of Ms. CEO Magazine, so make sure you subscribe. Each of our guests stressed the importance of having a board bio and resume’ and in Ms. CEO Magazine we will feature the “anatomy” of this specialized kind of bio and resume’. This helpful information will be available to subscribers only!

(I must digress and tell you, as well, that we’ll be giving away free full page ads in Ms. CEO Magazine. Find out more here.)

Without further ado, here are the Top 10 Takeaways from today’s show:

1. It’s not just who you know; it’s who knows you, too. Our guests agreed that fully 80 percent or more of corporate board appointments, or even recommendations, come as a result of being known and referred by someone already on a board. Well, with the majority of boards being comprised of men, that means you have to network with everyone, men included, to be seen and remembered. (By the way, being remembered has a lot to do with your personal brand. Whether you’re a woman entrepreneur or intrapreneur—an intrapreneur builds business units aggressively within a company—you’ve got to have a memorable brand for just this reason. We’ll be talking about personal and company branding on the September 8th show, so tune in.)
2. Look really good…on paper. To be seriously considered for a board appointment you need to look good on paper and that means having an impressive “board bio and resume”. This is different from your run-of-the-mill bio and resume. It needs to stress operational, financial, and strategic successes you have led at the helm of your own company—or at the helm of a business unit within a company. The old sales rule applies to this one: Benefits not features. So, rather than listing the plum assignments you have, you want to stress and illustrate the plum results you’ve gotten as the leader of major projects or an upstart business that you built to the multi-million or multi-billion dollar level.
3. No interns, sorry. Corporate boards of all size companies want board directors with experience because ultimately the board’s job is to direct the company’s leadership in the best interest of shareholders. So you must be able to hold the CEO, CFO, COO and others accountable for having and executing a solid corporate strategy. To do this, you have to know your stuff (or as one of our guests more eloquently said, “have business acumen”). This basically boils down to board experience and recruiters or corporate boards will pass over you if you don’t have any.
4. Intern! Since corporate boards are adamant about appointing directors who have experience, go out and get some on a board as soon as possible. You can start with non-profit boards. And, as our final guest of the hour, Jacqui Brandwynne, who has been on many, many boards (of very large companies) pointed out, you should take every board assignment very seriously. Non-profits and for-profits. Manage the company as if it were your own. And not doing so can get you into REAL trouble, too. Real spelled S-U-E-D (by shareholders). So, board membership is a lot of responsibility and non-profit boards are a great place—with a lot of work—to learn all about it.
5. Work in the business of the business. Alot of factors commingle, apparently, and depress the number of women on boards, including the fact that women are often encouraged to pursue non-financial or non-operational positions and professions. Yet, these kinds of backgrounds and positions—financial and operational—are quite, if not more, appealing to corporate boards. human resources and marketing are exceptionally important, as well, but statistically, women excel in these areas while often shying away from finance and operations. This is not to say you have to go into these areas if you don’t really enjoy them but as an entrepreneur it’s almost certain you’ll have to excel in these areas, at least from a management perspective, to succeed—and as a corporate careerwoman you need to vie for opportunities in these areas to increase your chances of being on a corporate board one day.
6. Eat your wheaties! Get ready for some late nights, early mornings and long days. More than one of our guests emphasized the fact that it sounds really cool and glamorous to say you’re on a corporate board but at the end of the day, that also means a sizeable time commitment, depending on the market capitalization of the company (small, mid, large). If you want to be on a corporate board and do a good job, get ready to commit the time—in addition to all of your other responsibilities—to being a board member and representing yourself well, and also leaving the opportunity open for other women. We can have it all, but not all at once, so make the move to be on a board when you have the time to commit to corporateg governance.
7. Tell it like it is, so it can become the way it should be. As a Director, you’ll need to be able to ask tough questions and hold C-level executives accountable (and these could be people older than you, with more degrees than you, and more experience than you; but it doesn’t matter). Essentially, it’s your job to protect the corporation and its owners (shareholders) against negligence, poor strategy, hasty decisions, greed, corruption and all other manner of ill, ignorance, apathy, inagility and uninspired thinking that impacts the performance of companies. This will sometimes mean being a contrarian, and possibly standing alone. Gender doesn’t matter. Right choices do. And the ability and willingness to communicate the most prudent course of action matters even more. Ask yourself if you can do this. I hope you said, “yes,” if you’re interested in being on a board because it’s a requirement (an unspoken one, anyway).
8. Companies really are looking for a few good women! This was great to know from our guests: Companies of all sizes actively seek women to be on their corporate boards. Bob Pearson said that typically in his searches the companies actually request a diverse pool of applicants both in terms of gender and race/ethnicity. Companies are looking for you, so listen to this show (you can list to it on the player to the right and you can also subscribe to our show on iTunes; search “The Ms. CEO Show”) and do everything recommended by our guests to get yourself in line for a corporate board position.
9. It’s about the money, honey! An absolute imperative for being on a corporate board is that you understand the financials. If this isn’t your strong suit, take a course, get personal coaching, do what is required to shore up in this area because it will serve you well professionally and in your pursuit of a corporate board assignment.
10. There’s power in numbers (and knowledge). Think about joining an organization that is a member of ION, which is working through organizations across the United States to inform and empower women to prepare themselves for corporate board memberships—and to remind companies of the major difference that women in leadership can make. Get informed, get involved!

Be Encouraged,
Felicia Joy