Serving on a public board requires a lot of broad leadership experience, but you don’t have to wait until you become a senior executive to prepare for it.
In fact, if serving on a public board is one of your big career goals, I suggest you start preparing for it now.
Why now?
Public boards deal with very tough issues involving governance, succession planning, legal, regulatory and finance, just to name a few. Their members need to have the knowledge and expertise to help the company deal with those tough issues.
Selection for public-board positions is highly competitive. Of the 421 Fortune 500 board positions filled in 2016, 75% were filled[i] with individuals who had previous board experience.
That’s why I suggest that, if serving on a public board is your ultimate goal, you should start gaining board experience earlier rather than later.
Where do I start?
As I suggested in my previous LinkedIn article, a great place to start is a non-profit board.
There are several reasons for that.
For one, before you serve on any board you’ll need the approval of your current company.
A non-profit is probably the easiest approach, particularly if the organization’s work is aligned with your company’s social mission.
That would be a win-win situation. You’d be able to help the non-profit and the community. You’d support your company’s social mission. And, along the way, you would begin to understand the group dynamics of board service.
And that’s not all. Early board service with a non-profit will give you learning opportunities you might not otherwise encounter in your current job. You’ll also broaden your network and develop leadership skills that you can put to use immediately in your current job.
The right non-profit for you
The key is to look for an organization where the executive skills you have now match the skills they need at the stage that they are in.
Make sure your heart is in it, however.
I would never encourage you to serve on a non-profit board unless you believed in their mission and were passionate about it. I don’t recommend joining just to get board experience.
It has to be first and foremost about what the non-profit needs and what you can bring to the table.
My early experience with boards
I credit much of my professional success to my early non-profit board experience.
I was able to make a contribution to their success. In that process, I became a better leader and gained experience in things that my job alone would not have provided.
Just as an example, one of those experiences involved the selection and compensation of the next CEO. By the time I was involved in one such process at a Fortune board, I had already been through several similar experiences with non-profit boards. And that proved to be invaluable.
Serious, demanding work
Board duty is serious, demanding work. It requires a lot of time for travel and meetings, not to mention extensive preparation in order to make a positive contribution to those meetings.
Before you decide to go for it, make sure that you are ready and willing to make that commitment, and that your current organization is comfortable with you taking on extra duties.
Once you decide, let the right people know. Develop a resume that’s targeted to a board position. Post your background on professional sites like LinkedIn and on board-specific sites like BoardProspects.
Never stop learning
But what if, despite making sure you have all the requirements, you don’t get an offer?
I say continue to educate yourself in developing areas of concern for corporations, like cyber security, Blockchain technology, Artificial Intelligence, just to mention a few.
The idea is not to become an expert but to gain the level of knowledge a board member would need to possess in order to help the company.
That way, when you get your next interview you’ll be able to talk about those topics with confidence, with knowledge, and with up-to-date facts. It will make a huge difference.
A tremendous experience
Board service is very rewarding work and I do encourage you to pursue it if it’s one of your career goals.
However, given the limited number of openings, my recommendation is that you begin to get experience early by serving on non-profit or small-company boards.
That will prepare you for serving on larger public boards later on.
And, as an important side benefit, it will tremendously improve your leadership skills, which will help you in your current position.
I congratulate you if, after all I’ve said, you still decide to go for it. I hope my advice will be helpful.
And to those readers who are already serving on boards: please consider sharing your advice with readers with a comment below. They will appreciate it, as will I.
I wish you great success.
[i] Source: Heidrick & Struggles Board Monitor
