The first step in getting prepared to lead and serve on a corporate board is to make a plan. As, I’ve written about before, getting board-ready is a journey. A journey where you need to be realistic in your skills, experience and value that you bring to a corporate board while acknowledging that there are lots of qualified corporate directors looking for corporate board opportunities. I’m often asked how to begin a corporate board journey. And my best advice is to ask yourself these 10 questions to help you prepare yourself to lead and serve on a corporate board: 10 Board-Ready Questions Do you have a minimum of [...]

Originally posted on September 15, 2015. There are two roles you must play on a Board, one is Oversight and the other is Value-add.  I will highlight both roles with an extract from a chapter that I co-authored with Donna Price in 2008’s Entrepreneurial Effect by James Bowen and Glenn Cheriton, titled Corporate Governance-Directors of Emerging Companies. (To promote understanding of a director’s role on a board and how to prepare for board opportunities, I am again co-facilitating Women Get On Board’s Getting Board-ready workshops from October to December 2016. Learn more about them here: http://womengetonboard.ca/workshops/.  Hope to see you there!) The Oversight role on a Board “The [...]

Being a Corporate Director is much different than being an executive. A Corporate Director’s role is one of oversight whereas an executive’s role is to manage day-to-day operations. Getting yourself board-ready is a journey where you need to be realistic in your skills, experience and value you bring to a board. You also need to be mindful that it is a very competitive marketplace. There is an over-supply of qualified Corporate Directors for a limited supply of available corporate board seats. As a Corporate Director and co-founder of Women Get On Board, my goal is to help executives make that transition effectively. This is why I want to [...]

It still surprises me that in the 21st century Canada’s boardrooms are not more diverse. In fact, I often get asked to consider a board opportunity because the company is looking to add diversity to their board. As of January 2015, the Ontario Securities Commission’s (OSC) implemented disclosure rules for TSX-listed companies to "comply or explain" in regards to their board diversity. It is hopeful that this will lead to positive changes ahead in how corporate boards recruit new board members. Be an Agent of Change As a corporate director, I believe that the OSC “comply or explain” disclosure rules present an opportunity to build stronger boards through [...]

Every Board member has a financial oversight role. Even if you don’t have financial expertise, you are still expected to have a level of financial literacy. This means that you need to have an understanding of the fundamental concepts, conventions and principles underlying financial statements. Top 5 tips to help you become financially literate for corporate boards: Develop a plan and begin the work. Begin by reviewing the annual filings of TSX listed companies that you are interested in. Look for a mentor or someone who has financial expertise. Ask someone you know that has financial expertise if you can spend time with them over the next year [...]

Getting started on your board journey includes building a board profile. So, how does one go about it?  It starts with asking yourself what your value proposition is, and what unique skills and experience you bring to a board. Here are my 3 tips for helping you build your board profile: 1. Define your unique value proposition Boards are made up of a diversity of thought with members bringing different culture, experience, gender, ethnicity, age and geographic representation. So, what is it that you can bring to an already diverse board? What is your unique board value proposition? Think of it like an "elevator pitch" where you have [...]