Do you naturally take charge? Could you be accused of talking too much? Are you fond of floating rhetorical questions? (This isn’t one, I promise.)
If you answered yes to any of the above, you might not be board material, according to an informal survey of more than 200 executives, by Him for Her, an organization that aims to boost gender diversity on boards.
Him for Her pursues its mission by assisting companies with candidate searches and hosting small dinners where people in positions of influence are introduced to women seeking board roles, says founder Jocelyn Mangan. The goal is to destroy the pipeline myth, one fancy meal at a time.
Along the way, Mangan has also asked her VIP guests—CEOs, CFOs, and board members—about the most effective corporate directors they’ve encountered. Noticing that certain themes repeatedly surfaced in their responses, she created a top 10 list of valuable director qualities to share with clients interviewing for board seats. The list has become a useful scorecard for measuring leadership generally or even parenting capabilities, Mangan says. Boards can also use it to evaluate their performance as a group.
Here’s what extraordinary board members do well, according to Him For Her:
1. Ask thoughtful questions. The best directors don’t ask questions to make a point; they ask questions out of genuine curiosity. “They invite the board to look at the situation in a new way or question how things have been done,” says Mangan.
2. See around corners. Top board members spot trends or likely pitfalls before others, often including a company’s executive team.
3. Inspire the team to think bigger. While all directors must understand a company’s business today, MVP directors “keep their eyes on a three- to five-year strategy,” says Mangan.
4. Use the product. It’s strangely common for board members to be woefully out of touch with a company’s client base or reputation. To be a strong director, step into the customer’s shoes, or audit support calls, and follow the firm on social media to see how it's perceived, says Mangan. “I'm on the board at Papa John's, and we have our board meetings in the test kitchen on a regular basis.”
5. Oversee without taking over. Turning off the impulse to give commands can be challenging for some high achievers, particularly during hard times “when problem-solving comes naturally,” says Mangan. Do it anyway.
6. Network and recruit. Effective board members are “ambassadors for the brands” they represent and invite other bright minds into the company’s orbit.
7. Spend time with the company. People tend to think that board members are only active for four meetings per year. That’s increasingly less true for public company boards and not the case for private ones, where directors might interact with the company daily or weekly. “We heard lots of great personal stories, like about a board member who got on an overnight flight to be there for an important business development meeting where they stayed silent,” says Mangan.
8. Invest in the CEO. In this case, investing goes beyond coaching or strategizing and may look like being a friend. “When a company is in crisis, sometimes the board member will just call the CEO to check in and ask, ‘How are you doing?’” Mangan says. (Remember that board members might be part of a company for five to 10 years, she adds, and a lot can happen in a person’s life during that period.)
9. Challenge thinking. A choice quote from a Him for Her interview: “If everyone's agreeing, you have the wrong board.”
10. Has a high signal-to-noise ratio. Top directors are selective about their contributions to discussions. “They also recognize the power of their voice as a board member and the unintended impact they can have on executive teams who may misinterpret their comments,” Mangan says. With less aware leaders, it can be hard to tell when they’re musing aloud or making a request.
Although there’s no shortage of board prep resources, Mangan concedes, her list differs from most because of its emphasis on emotional intelligence. By the time you’re being considered for a board seat, you have the know-how for the job, but so-called soft skills are what “separates the great from the good,” she says.
When CEOs told her why they admired particular board members, she adds, none said, “Well, they really understand the audit process.”
Lila MacLellan
lila.maclellan@fortune.com
@lilamaclellan
