How to find leaders to sit on your company's board

How to find leaders to sit on your company's board

How to find leaders to sit on your company's board



What jumpstarts a search for an executive board member?



What makes a successful board placement?



It’s also useful to have experience outside industry sector, someone capable of looking at the business with fresh eyes. One common mistake companies make is pulling the trigger too quickly. Mis-hires result in discontinuity, loss in enterprise value, and can do serious damage to individuals as well. Mis-hires result from not doing the work upfront. It’s about primarily about fit.

Should companies combine the roles of chairman, president and CEO?

Almost 60 percent of S&P 500 corporations combine the roles, though that number is down from almost 75 percent in 2001. In my view, the most productive and prudent scenarios are those in which the CEO reports to a chairman and the board. When one person holds all three, too much power is in one person’s hands and not enough challenge.

What is the No. 1 misconception about what you do?

One criticism of my profession relates to the well-worn pages of the recruiter’s Rolodex. We certainly include our network and database but we develop a roadmap and a search strategy that determines where we go to look and the kinds of companies we target. We want to find the best possible talent, not just a suitable slate. It may be that 70 percent of candidates come from our database, and we seek out 30 percent from fresh research, or it may be 30-70. In addition, the hard work is done in the assessment and due diligence both before and during the engagement.

How is the search for a board member different now than 10 years ago?

It used to be that companies looked for marquee names with the potential of raising the profile of the company. Today, companies are more and more looking for directors who add value, passion and loyalty to the company, not passive board members. The CEO should be continuously, respectfully challenged to raise the bar.

How is Houston a unique place to conduct a board search?

Houston theoretically should be the best city in the nation for finding candidates. It’s the perfect storm of diversity, talent and experience. The single biggest challenge is the demand for really superior talent. A smart search committee would be cognizant of the fact that Houston is home to CEOs who have seen it all, who have seen the downside of the mid-’80s and the slow rollercoaster to where we are now. Houston represents a unique opportunity in that it has executives who have a more comprehensive perspective.

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