Women on board! - women corporate directors

Chief Executive, The, Oct, 1998 by Julie Daum

SCOUTING FOR DIRECTORS

Given all the factors that work to restrict the number of women available to serve on boards, what can companies that are truly committed to increasing the number and participation of women on boards do? One tack we recommend to companies that are serious about recruiting women to their boards is to think more like someone scouting in sports leagues; that is, to try to identify talent at an early stage. It's often too late to recruit women who have already made it to the top or even the penultimate rang of the corporate ladder; they are usually in great demand and likely not available for additional boards. Women still on the way up may be a better bet and are not on every board's radar screen. The trick is to spot the woman executive who has the skill set to make it as a CEO one day but is still on the rise and not yet highly visible in either her industry or the larger business marketplace. Her resume will look like her male counterpart's, but she may be recruited one step earlier.

This approach may present a few challenges, both in the recruitment phase and after the woman joins a board. CEOs need to be convinced that allowing these up-and-comers to serve will benefit their firms and not merely serve as a distraction. There's also no question that it is more work for CEOs and other board members to bring along an often much younger, less experienced director before she can fully contribute in the boardroom.

In addition, boards may begin to rethink their spec that says every board member should be an active or retired CEO. More firms are looking for specific experience that will be critical for them, recognizing that the CEO title in this category is not mandatory. The most obvious example is people with IT experience. What is most important for brands is that the individual understands how to apply technology to business issues and to remain current. You don't have to run a technology company to bring those skills. We have recently recruited several CIOs and CTOs of technology-driven companies to boards. Consumer marketing is another area where the understanding of the discipline is as important as the title the individual brings.

More women are, of course, slowly attaining corporate positions that will make them eligible, when assessed according to the traditional director spec, to serve on boards. But it doesn't look as if supply will catch up with demand any time soon. Firms that wish to demonstrate their commitment to having women directors may, therefore, have to find ways to augment the supply by getting around the constraints of the traditional spec and still finding women who can be solid contributors.

Julie Daum is co-managing director of the Board Service Practice at Spencer Stuart, a New York-based executive search firm with 40 offices in 20 countries.