INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ann Shepherd is co-founder of social impact venture Him For Her
She serves on the board of fintech startup HoneyBook. Over a recent dinner with twenty C-suite executives, one founder-CEO recounted how he
was preparing a slide for a company all-hands with headshots of his board of directors when he was struck by the contrast between his
gender-balanced employee base and his all-male board
A board populated exclusively by men is at odds with efforts to promote diversity and inclusion throughout the organization
For too many CEOs, the composition of their boards can feel more like a liability than a strategic asset.Board diversity offers an array of
course the symbolic power of women and minorities at the top rung of the corporate ladder
Yet, according to a collaborative study published today by Crunchbase, Kellogg School of Management and Him For Her, the boards of 60
can be explained by the dearth of women founders and funders
With investors composing the majority of private-company board seats, the paucity of female check-writers in the venture community carries
But the problem goes beyond that
women.Why should CEOs care about building boards that bring more women and minorities to the table? To answer this question, we sought input
shared.View your board as a strategic assetWell-functioning boards help CEOs see the bigger picture by providing an external perspective
can help address tactical needs, providing introductions to candidates or lending functional expertise to shape strategy
the most valuable contributions a board can make are to provoke thinking and see around corners, then having a range of voices in the
Make sure your board has the skill sets and diversity attributes that make you proud to show your employees and customers
companies with all-male boards
There is no shortage of exceptionally-qualified female and minority candidates
The real issue is that within the personal networks responsible for appointing most directors, these candidates are often simply invisible
Start going out of your way to connect with people who are dissimilar to you
Ask people you know to connect you with folks they know who might add a unique perspective
A great board can have an outsized impact in your ability to succeed, helping you navigate difficult decisions, making sure you have the
to defining the ideal new board member, traditional wisdom says to look for a current or former CEO
Instead they focus on adding key competencies to fill out the expertise in their boardrooms.The first step is to assess your current board
finance and operations, enterprise sales and M-A and tech marketing
In tech, things move really fast and someone who has been a CMO for 20+ years may not know as much about recent marketing technology tools
or marketing practices such as ABM and Inbound Marketing
not only chosen well but also onboarded professionally so they can contribute fully to the functioning of the board
The onboarding may require existing board members to also evolve how they themselves operate
