Episode 20: Are you Ready to Add Board of Director to your Resume?
Have you thought about being on a board of directors? Or want to expand your impact and join another board? Being on a board is an excellent way to enhance your leadership skills, share your knowledge, and advance something that’s important to you. And you shouldn’t wait until you retire or have more experience to do so! In this week’s episode of Career Episodes for Women That Work, I’m going to discuss some of the ways that you can position yourself for a board seat and why you should do it now.
When I was invited to my first board, it was filled with lawyers and accountants that helped run the business. I was relatively quiet for the first few meetings, but then I realized that I had a lot to add. I was introducing new products to the market, setting up channels, creating bundled solutions, and building enterprise license agreements—things most accountants and lawyers don’t have experience with; they didn’t have my unique perspective.
So regardless of where you are in your career journey, think about what skills you could bring to the table. Because, more times than not, you have skills that boards need.
That’s why, in this episode, I’m strongly encouraging you to join a board of directors. You’re going to learn:
- How other women achieved their board seats
- Why you need to position yourself to be invited to a board
- The steps to take to align yourself for a board seat now
Aligning to board seats will give you the ability to create momentum around something beyond your day job. I hope this inspires you to align yourself for one of those seats starting now.
Tune in next time and make sure you connect with me on Instagram – @JJDigeronimo – I’d love to hear what insights this inventory brought you!
Quotes:
The numbers are dishearteningly revealing. As recently as late 2020, women reportedly held less than a quarter of board seats among America’s largest publicly-traded companies on the Russell 3000 and, even on a global scale, women also held less than a quarter of board of director (BoD) seats that year. [Why your company needs gender diversity on its board written by Merilee A. Kern, MBA: https://digitizingpolaris.com/why-your-company-needs-gender-diversity-on-its-board-de9ad4d1e786]
50/50 Women on Boards (50/50WOB), the leading global education and advocacy campaign driving the movement toward gender balance and diversity on corporate boards, announced today that as of Dec 31, 2020, women hold 23.7% of the board seats among the largest publicly-traded companies on the Russell 3000 Index, a 1.1 percentage point increase from June 30, 2020. [PR News Wire: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/5050-women-on-boards-reveals-gender-diversity-index-key-findings-quantifies-commitment-to-diversity-with-women-of-color-holding-at-least-20-of-all-corporate-board-seats-301278679.html]
Articles:
Commitment is a vital factor in serving as a director, committee member, Smart Business Magazine: https://www.sbnonline.com/article/commitment-vital-factor-serving-director-committee-member/
Eight Reasons It’s Looking Good For Women On Boards, Forbes.com: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2021/01/05/eight-reasons-its-looking-good-for-women-on-boards/?sh=6666e2a02949
The State of Gender Equality on Corporate Boards of Directors, Apr 14, 2021: https://sustainabilityknowledgegroup.com/the-state-of-gender-equality-on-corporate-boards-of-directors/
A BOARD’S A BOARD, RIGHT? UM, WELL, ACTUALLY…NO., Andrea McManus, ViTreo Group Inc. October 8th 2019,A Board’s A Board, Right? Non-Profit vs For-Profit Boards — ViTreo (vitreogroup.ca)
Referenced Podcasts:
- Episode 6: Strategically Sharing is Not Bragging
- Episode 8: Why Women Need Sponsors at Work
Websites: