4 Years of VAB: Networking, Learning and Skilling for Better Access to Board Roles
On 6 June, the VAB team hosted two celebratory events and panel discussions featuring our VAB members. The sessions offered a moment for reflection on how our community has grown and what we have achieved over the past four years. Beyond expanding from a group of about 20 to almost 850 members today, we have grown into a truly global board education and networking organisation with a presence in 74 countries (the USA, the UK and Switzerland have the strongest member presence). We welcomed just under 100 new members in Q1 2024 alone and we continue to build a more diverse, member-driven community every day. Our strongest regions are Europe and North America, where each accounts for between 30-40% of our membership base. Plus, we are keeping pace with global standards for women’s representation in our group with their share of our total membership standing at 30%: a figure we want to boost further during this year.
With all the insights of this amazing community we have built, we drew on lessons learnt from the careers of a handful of our very experienced board members to share what best practices exist for scouting out new board opportunities and advancing in board journeys. The points highlighted below include thoughts and tips from two sets of panellists who underscored what they have gained from their VAB community membership alongside what their board careers have taught them.
How VAB contributes
The relevance of connections and developing understanding. VAB helps with understanding different types of boards, what boards actually do, and support for building specific knowledge. This includes understanding differences between advisory boards, fiduciary boards and even independent advisors. For many VAB members, it’s a process that has no end. Once you have an understanding of what boards do, you need to decide and understand where you can add value. The VAB MyBoard tool is of particular value thanks to its delivery of possibilities to work in peer-to-peer structures to support fellow VAB members in board growth exchanges.
Two-way connecting and a great knowledge base
One way connections never work. To get the most from VAB you have to be willing to contribute and give back. VAB is a great space for board leaders willing to learn and who are also generous of spirit. VAB’s value lies within the personal connections made – not just at an introduction and chatting level but in a space where members work to understand one another’s needs and leads and advise each other on paths forward to new board roles or simply on current business opportunities. VAB has a wealth of experts where their involvement in each meeting, master class or boot camp session offers new insights and opportunities to learn and grow. In one case mentioned during discussions a panellist highlighted just how deep member knowledge and experience runs, sharing how informal connections to VAB members led to a tough rethink on a business acquisition and a complete reassessment of WHY that process should or should not happen. A top benefit of VAB membership includes such frank discussions and long-term conversations on business and board journeys. In some cases members have developed long-term bonds that resulted in regular 1:1 check-ins and feedback sessions occurring monthly.
Moves to the boardroom space are not monolithic
For some members moves to board director roles come from inquiries based on past work in the corporate executive space or from trust built during project-based working relationships. One panellist noted that they had come across one of their first board advisory roles while working for another company, when an opportunity arose for them to carry out assessments for investors and pull together a board team that would be acceptable and know how to work with VC partners. This smaller-scale project led to bigger opportunities for building a board portfolio later in their career. Smaller efforts can have great value in helping understand one’s board-relevant experience and gaining the confidence needed to build a board portfolio.
In some regions of the world there are additional specificities to how search for, and general access to, board roles plays out. Our panellists noted that in some of their regions there is less of a tradition for building governance or fiduciary boards. This is something that makes staffing or recruiting for boards more difficult when, for quite a few businesses, there is uncertainty about board design and what capacities or competencies board members might need.
How different is the board journey for women?
A lot of the journey depends on support networks and peer groups who help individuals understand the value of experience. This includes building on individual projects and gaining options where experience (when packaged correctly) leads to new advisory options. Supporting efforts to boost confidence is critical in this space simply because the numbers show how much effective women leaders are contributing; how their leadership skills are pushing companies forward and creating inclusive growth. The key reality here is that talent is generally universal while opportunity is not. Our panellists emphasised that access to opportunity is a barrier that needs to be removed to bring more women into board director and board advisor roles. Obligations to report and share information on diversity are good steps in driving inclusivity efforts forward. Women’s ability to effect and bring about positive change deserves greater visibility. But still there needs to be more focus on how the career pipeline influences women’s access to board roles and what impact work-life balance concerns have. Improved, consistent policy in this area is a must.
Governance boards and the reality of AI – knowing what we don’t know
AI’s evolution is nothing new. However, the scale and options for its usage is growing rapidly. But boards come into the equation when discussions turn to strategic conversations on AI and its organisational input. Businesses need to work to balance innovation against security – including fighting against input bias. Essentially, businesses are now at the beginning of a longer journey when it comes to regulation and governance models. There are big questions about honesty and time and resource investment into integrating AI into new software solutions and tools. There is a need to be more pragmatic and assess AI options in detail. Is true innovation there? Are there other needs or concerns boards have – security and safety or how AI tools contribute to growth? This requires, though, businesses spending time to say what they want or expect. Many businesses are at present preoccupied with concerns about their future and the relevance of their business models. Will AI make businesses obsolete?
Boards and succession
A big problem in the Middle East and other markets is how to handle generational wealth transfer and managing future "successional" teams. New opportunities are coming in the family business and SME/SMB space. Mid-size companies who do not have formalised boards can make good use of the talents in communities like VAB. It is important here to focus on point of entry for start-ups and SMEs – defining when an advisor jumping on board is relevant and/or useful. Start-up and/or VC/PE-backed boards are an interesting space for bringing in new advisor talent and VAB members could be effective in this market space.
Ways forward in capturing board opportunities – designing a portfolio career
There are important learning opportunities here if members map and reflect deeply on where they are headed 5 or 10 years out. VAB partner orgs like Advisory Board Centre (ABC) are a good resource for this process. It is important to think about what a person expects of board roles. The advisory board space offers room for a bit more creativity and affords insights into how to grow in a role and eventually improve a business’ bottom line. Engaging in varied types of countries means there are broader learning curves – understanding how advisors can contribute to guidance for businesses and how clever experts seeking new board roles will reflect upon how they can choose board director spots or board advisor engagements on a "for growth or for learning" basis.
Requests for help require specificity and finding Mr./Ms. Right in board search
An important lesson learnt is about the need to be specific in discussing careers. Members find that they need be intentional. The best pitches are short and to-the-point; stating specifically how an individual can contribute to a board and what impact their contributions will have. Likewise, there is a need to be open about what board candidates expect of board roles. Even if you are brought on as an expert in a specific field, the reality is that the bulk of your board time will be spent addressing governance issues. There is also a need to be honest about how a person, in their board director or advisor role, makes an impact. Honesty on this front is a must. It is critical to understand what a director candidate can give and also how they (the candidate) get value back from the role – for themselves personally. Each role is part of a broader journey (and a portfolio build) and review of new opportunities should be considered through that lens.
Understanding diverse approaches to how boards function
A critical point both for deciding whether or not to take a board position and also how to act in a board role is understanding of board culture. In countries around the world this varies. Oftentimes members see boards as having a purely governance function and view it as a mechanism for monitoring and ensuring regulatory compliance. Some boards, however, take on a more strategic view of their work, assuming they are there to bring a strategic vision for how to generate growth for a company. A common problem is when board members confuse themselves for persons who should have an executive role, forgetting they should take the 10,000 foot view from above. It’s critical to understand board directors’ mission to provide independent advice. Our panellists noted that in Latin America in particular, due to lack of tradition and experience, more educational work needs to be done to clarify the need for board director independence as well as explaining the purpose and functions of advisory boards (specifically in the start-up sector).
Board directors increasingly need soft skills abilities
Our panellists pointed out that today board members or directors need to be good communicators. They must be able to articulate a vision and engage effectively with executive leadership teams to explain concerns and the ins and outs of broader business strategy. At the same time, they also need to be good active listeners, sitting in board meetings and listening to understand as opposed to listening to respond. Observational skills are equally important – the ability to read a room and understand relationships and personal vs. organisational agendas. On top of these soft skills, tech transformation and understanding technology’s impact on how business operations need to evolve is another must for businesses today. Even if expertise is delivered through external consultants or advisors (perhaps as part of new director onboarding), all directors need to receive constant updates on industry evolutionary trends.
A curious director tends to be a good director
Most panellists agreed that regular communications with their peers or counterparts in their boards and or in executive leadership teams are critical. One of the best ways to do this is 1:1 meetings across the different groups. This involves meeting with other board members and understanding their views of their governance and advisory functions as well as checking in with C-level or executive leaders to understand operational challenges and plans. Some panellists even recommend taking time to meet with upper level middle management to get a deeper view of how companies are functioning. Consistent curiosity and listening to needs across the board, ELT and management structures is invaluable to informing strategic counsel provided from the board director’s seat.
The above summary includes thoughts and insights from two discussions based on video recordings. We have not attributed comments to panellists in the texts, but you can review the discussions in greater detail through the recordings linked below. If you are interested in connecting with any of the individual panellists, feel free to reach out to your member experience manager for support in this process.