5 Musts For Better Boardrooms

As we close 2023 and reflect back on the business landscape, there’s been no shortage of disruption, innovation, and global instability. One thing that has held steady is the role of the boardroom guiding CEOs and companies through the highs and lows.?

The board marketplace is messy. The vast majority of board seats are still filled through personal networks. Board openings are also held in whisper networks, which makes it hard for those seeking board seats to find them. As we end the year, here are the current statistics: of our most highly funded private company boardrooms, only 16% of their board seats are held by women, only 4% have a woman of color.?

We know, however,? there is no pipeline issue in terms of qualified candidates to fill these seats, and we know that companies are better when they have boards filled with diverse experiences. We also know what we - the business community - need to do more to move our boards to be better in 2024:

1. For those seeking a board seat, increase your visibility. First, ensure that you have spent time on defining your board competencies . Ensure your LinkedIn profile reflects the full story of what it is you bring. Finally, this is a great time of year to reach out to your network . It works! I recently spoke with a woman who spent a few hours doing this one weekend, and three months later found herself accepting a board position. If you are an executive at a large company, check out our corporate program too as a way to accelerate your board journey.?
2. For CEOs, board members and investors who currently sit on or manage a board, prioritize making your board better. Identify who you have today, and what competencies you need for the next 3-5 years of growth . Instead of asking “who do we know,”? ask “what do we need”? Then look outside your inner circles to find talent. Note that we are here for you, ready to provide introductions to our 7000+ and growing network.?
3. Add independents early. Brad Feld , an advisor to Him For Her, reinforces this concept best as he describes how it is implemented at Foundry: “We’ve made this an operating principle at Foundry. We encourage all our portfolio companies to add multiple independent directors and build diverse boards. I believe that boards with too many investors, without operator voices, are not what an early-stage or growth company needs. I’ve been willing to give up my board seat to make room for an independent director. While leaving independent board seats empty or choosing someone you know is easy, this is risky. Diversity of experience and thought, along with an independent vs. investor perspective, is something every CEO can use, especially in this market environment.”
4. Make it a firm-wide effort. We are currently working with over 100 private equity and venture capital firms in an effort to extend their networks with the aim of increasing the set of candidates who are considered for board positions. One thing we notice is that the firms who are committed at the firm level are more successful in actually bolstering talent at the board level. This year introduced some fruitful examples with our partners such as: 1) having our team present to the investment team so that all partners are aware of the offering and thinking of diversity as a lens when looking to fill board seats, 2) inviting us to present at a firm CEO summit or Founder’s Retreat so that we can answer questions and get to know specific portfolio companies and their needs, 3) measuring and tracking board composition over time - even setting goals to encourage the team to think outside of the traditional slate of go-to advisors and board members.?
5. Support our work. The team pictured above works tirelessly to bring cognitive diversity to the most influential rooms in business - boardrooms. I’m fortunate to work with them every day, and for those of you who have met a member of our team, I know you can agree that this is a special and unique group, whose passion fuels our work. As you consider your end of year giving, we appreciate any donation that will help us strengthen the tools of this team and grow it to include more members for more progress in 2024 and beyond.? With your support, we will solve gender diversity on for-profit company boards within the next ten years.