How to get the most out of VAB membership: a sit-down with Louis Kelemen
In this article, VAB member Louis Kelemen speaks to us about his experience as a VAB member over the past two years and how engagement as a country chair brought greater motivation and new purpose to his networking with VAB peers. It even led to a couple of advisor roles. Learn more below.
What activities have brought you the most value in terms of intentional networking?
Upon joining VAB I jumped in with both feet and put my networking skills on hyper drive attending as many events and opportunities as possible. I made a significant number of new connections and did my best to support other members through introductions to people in my network: both inside and outside of VAB. While I was gaining connections exponentially through these efforts, it was a bit of quantity over quality. When I was asked to serve as country chair for Canada, things began to change. That role immediately provided some additional structure for how I networked within VAB and eventually led to some interesting connections with my fellow Canadian members and also some advisory board opportunities.
How have you been able to leverage and make use of VAB services?
With the services, I believe you have to put in the time to do your homework and consider what might benefit you most. I am in a MyBoard group. And that programme, alongside my involvement in YPO and EO, has been very useful in terms of learning from, and brainstorming with, fellow VAB members. It’s been great just to see what concerns people have and reflect on those, while asking myself if I could help people in similar situations.
A moment of epiphany for me came after my decision to take part in a VAB Boot Camp session. This course brought greater clarity to how I should approach my networking. I became aware that I could better leverage my network through focused activities and better "marketing of my brand" using LinkedIn and a solid Board Profile document. Implementing the skills learned through the boot camp directly resulted in an advisory role which eventually turned into a full-time opportunity!
Have you engaged with VAB partners at all?
Tying into my answer above, after polishing my LinkedIn profile and board bio, I started to look into the directory services offered by VAB partner, Equilar. I eventually set up a profile with them and began work on developing a board-focused elevator pitch. Again, this was all part of a logical, organic process. And investing time in refining all these profile and board role solicitation documents taught me a vital lesson: be specific in your asks for board opportunities. Let potential recruiters and peers in your networks know your clear vision for how you see yourself contributing as a director, NED or board advisor.
What have you gained from your efforts?
Well, I ended up getting two advisory positions out of my network outreach efforts. Those came my way thanks to my experience working with privately-owned businesses, some backed by PE/VC funding. But I would like to emphasise that it was my conscious decision to invest extra time into researching and leveraging VAB services and learning tools that made a real difference. Plus, my consistent VAB member outreach activities connected me with a VAB peer running an advisory board search and to another one seeking an expert to take on a company advisor position. All this through a number of conversations that began with a simple Hello, what have you been up to?. I quickly understood that active, purposeful networking and leaning on the VAB membership team are critical to reaping all the possible benefits VAB offers. It’s definitely worth taking the time to look at all services listed on the organisation's website and also asking your assigned member experience manager: Do you have something that could help me with…? If you can come to the VAB support team, and even your VAB community colleagues, with a clear vision of where you are headed in your board journey (even where you want to be 5-10 years from now), I’ve found that almost everyone is willing to help you get there. And that’s an amazing experience to have.
