What Can I do to Join my First Board of Directors?

I am often asked, “What can I do to join my first board of directors?” and the key thing I always want to emphasize is that you must first work to curate your own personal brand and then work to get your brand out there.

It can be very helpful to create your own website where you can create and promote the exact content you want that best represents your positioning. To augment the content on your website I would recommend coming up with some interesting papers or creating articles and blog posts that are relevant to your specific industry. For example, pharmaceutical or financial services, or functional role/skillset, i.e. CFO, CMO. For example if your main specialty is in HR you might want to strive to become a thought leader on recruiting millennial talent or perhaps distill your best insights on recruiting, motivating, and retaining talent into an actionable thought piece.

Actively seek out speaking engagements perhaps at company events or at conferences and be sure to memorialize these engagements by filming them or perhaps with photographs so you have more media rich content to share on your website and social media platforms.

Social media can be a fantastic way to create your brand halo and reach an even broader audience. Your social media presence must be carefully thought out and deliberate. Do not post superfluous content; strive to create and share content that provides unique insights, actionable nuggets, is visually appealing, engaging and thought provoking. Avoid engaging in back and forth arguments with people online – it won’t help your brand or win you any brownie points.

The goal of your online presence should be to position yourself as an expert in your field, to help distinguish yourself from your competitors, and to curate a compelling personal brand that attracts and leaves a lasting impression with your target audience.

-Betsy