{"id":768,"date":"2015-05-28T06:52:18","date_gmt":"2015-05-28T06:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/?p=768"},"modified":"2024-02-21T21:15:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T21:15:28","slug":"the-board-of-directors-guest-post-from-matt-blumberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/2015\/05\/the-board-of-directors-guest-post-from-matt-blumberg\/","title":{"rendered":"The Board Of Directors: Guest Post From Matt Blumberg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-772\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/106-boardofdirectorsmattblumberg-500x500.jpg\" alt=\"106-boardofdirectorsmattblumberg\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/2015\/05\/the-board-of-directors-guest-post-from-scott-kurnit\/\">last week&#8217;s guest post<\/a> Scott Kurnit advised entrepreneurs to put a friend on the Board and keep co-founders off. This week we&#8217;ll continue the theme of &#8220;who should be on your Board?&#8221; with a re-run of a post that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#%21\/mattblumberg\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Matt Blumberg<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.feld.com\/wp\/archives\/2012\/02\/what-makes-an-awesome-board-member.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote for Brad Feld earlier this year<\/a>. The topic is &#8220;what makes an awesome Board Member.&#8221; I am the person who made the point about firing executives. Brad Feld is the person who downed two shakes in one meeting.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>I\u2019ve written a bunch of posts over the years about how I manage my Board at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.returnpath.net\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Return Path<\/a>.\u00a0 And I think part of having awesome Board members is managing them well \u2013 giving transparent information, well organized, with enough lead time before a meeting; running great and engaging meetings; mixing social time with business time; and being a Board member yourself at some other organization so you see the other side of the equation.\u00a0 All those topics are covered in more detail in the following posts:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.onlyonceblog.com\/2010\/11\/why-i-love-my-board\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Why I Love My Board, Part II<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.onlyonceblog.com\/2004\/07\/the_good_the_bo-3\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">The Good, The Board, and The Ugly<\/a>, and\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.onlyonceblog.com\/2009\/11\/powerpointless\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Powerpointless<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But by far the best way to make sure you have an awesome board is to start by having awesome Board members.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had about 15 Board members over the years, some far better than others.\u00a0 Here are my top 5 things that make an awesome Board member, and my interview\/vetting process for Board members.<\/p>\n<p>Top 5 things that make an awesome Board member:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>They are prepared and keep commitments: They show up to all meetings.\u00a0 They show up on time and don\u2019t leave early.\u00a0 They do their homework.\u00a0 The are fully present and don\u2019t do email during meetings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>They speak their minds: They have no fear of bringing up an uncomfortable topic during a meeting, even if it impacts someone in the room.\u00a0 They do not come up to you after a meeting and tell you what they really think.\u00a0 I had a Board member once tell my entire management team that he thought I needed to be better at firing executives more quickly!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>They build independent relationships: They get to know each other and see each other outside of your meetings.\u00a0 They get to know individuals on your management team and talk to them on occasion as well.\u00a0 None of this communication goes through you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>They are resource rich: I\u2019ve had some directors who are one-trick or two-trick ponies with their advice.\u00a0 After their third or fourth meeting, they have nothing new to add.\u00a0 Board members should be able to pull from years of experience and adapt that experience to your situations on a flexible and dynamic basis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>They are strategically engaged but operationally distant: This may vary by stage of company and the needs of your own team, but I find that even Board members who are talented operators have a hard time parachuting into any given situation and being super useful.\u00a0 Getting their operational help requires a lot of regular engagement on a specific issue or area.\u00a0 But they must be strategically engaged and understand the fundamental dynamics and drivers of your business \u2013 economics, competition, ecosystem, and the like.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My interview\/vetting process for Board members:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Take the process as seriously as you take building your executive team \u2013 both in terms of your time and in terms of how you think about the overall composition of the Board, not just a given Board member.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Source broadly, get a lot of referrals from disparate sources, reach high.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Interview many people, always face to face and usually multiple times for finalists.\u00a0 Also for finalists, have a few other Board members conduct interviews as well.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Check references thoroughly and across a few different vectors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Have a finalist or two attend a Board meeting so you and they can examine the fit firsthand.\u00a0 Give the prospective Board member extra time to read materials and offer your time to answer questions before the meeting.\u00a0 You\u2019ll get a good first-hand sense of a lot of the above Top 5 items this way.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Have no fear of rejecting them.\u00a0 Even if you like them.\u00a0 Even if they are a stretch and someone you consider to be a business hero or mentor.\u00a0 Even after you\u2019ve already put them on the Board (and yes, even if they\u2019re a VC).\u00a0 This is your inner circle, and getting this group right is one of the most important things you can do for your company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I asked my exec team for their own take on what makes an awesome Board member. \u00a0Here are some quick snippets from them where they didn\u2019t overlap with mine:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ethical and high integrity in their own jobs and lives<\/li>\n<li>Comes with an opinion<\/li>\n<li>Thinking about what will happen next in the business and getting management to think ahead<\/li>\n<li>Call out your blind spots<\/li>\n<li>Remembering to thank you and calling out what\u2019s right<\/li>\n<li>Role modeling for your expectations of your own management team<\/li>\n<li>Do your prep, show up, be fully engaged, be brilliant\/transparent\/critical\/constructive and creative.\u00a0 Then get out of our way<\/li>\n<li>Offer tough love\u2026Unfettered, constructive guidance \u2013 not just what we want to hear<\/li>\n<li>Pattern matching: they have an ability to map a situation we have to a problem\/solution at other companies that they\u2019ve been involved in \u2013 we learn from their experience\u2026but ability and willingness to do more than just pattern matching. To really get into the essence of the issues and help give strategic guidance and suggestions<\/li>\n<li>Ability to down 2 Shake Shack milkshakes in one sitting<\/li>\n<li>Colorful and unique metaphors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Disclaimer \u2013 I run a private company.\u00a0 While I\u2019m sure a lot of these things are true for other types of organizations (public companies, non-profits, associations, etc.), the answers may vary.\u00a0 And even within the realm of private companies, you need to have a Board that fits your style as a CEO and your company\u2019s culture.\u00a0 That said, the formula above has worked well for me, and if nothing else, is somewhat time tested at this point!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was originally written by Matt Blumberg and Fred Wilson on April 23, 2012 <a href=\"http:\/\/avc.com\/2012\/04\/the-board-of-directors-guest-post-from-matt-blumberg\/\">here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-772\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/106-boardofdirectorsmattblumberg-500x500.jpg\" alt=\"106-boardofdirectorsmattblumberg\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/2015\/05\/the-board-of-directors-guest-post-from-scott-kurnit\/\">last week&#8217;s guest post<\/a> Scott Kurnit advised entrepreneurs to put a friend on the Board and keep co-founders off. This week we&#8217;ll continue the theme of &#8220;who should be on your Board?&#8221; with a re-run of a post that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#%21\/mattblumberg\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Matt Blumberg<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.feld.com\/wp\/archives\/2012\/02\/what-makes-an-awesome-board-member.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote for Brad Feld earlier this year<\/a>. The topic is &#8220;what makes an&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"margintop-large margintop-xlarge-l clear-both\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/2015\/05\/the-board-of-directors-guest-post-from-matt-blumberg\/#s\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Board Of Directors: Guest Post From Matt Blumberg<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3L5eK-co","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851,"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions\/851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mba-mondays-illustrated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}