ABOVE THE MEDIAN: Boardroom Breakthrough

Landing and Excelling in a Board Seat

Jan 16, 2024

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to 2024! As always, I hope that this newsletter continues to be a trusty sidekick, supporting you as you aim high in your career and life goals. I am grateful for this community and all of the women who make this newsletter what it is.

In this month's edition, we explore strategies for achieving board positions, featuring insights from three distinguished women: Ellen Kullman, Linda Segre, and Norma Corio. Each of these luminaries is certainly worthy of extensive research and following beyond the confines of this publication.

Unless you are in venture capital or private equity, how to get on a board is one of the most elusive processes. It feels like an opaque box. How does one get the “shoulder tap”?

Many board appointments have to do with your reputation and your network. Yet, a board appointment is far less important relative to the value you drive once on a board. Ellen, Linda, and Norma share valuable insights on how to achieve and succeed in both attaining board seats and driving value for companies.

Let’s get into the boardroom…

ABOVE THE MEDIAN SPOTLIGHT:

Ellen Kullman is a force. As she says, “I can get blood (or money) from a rock.” Her illustrious resume is one to admire. She is the former CEO of Dupont (an American multinational chemical company that is publicly traded and valued at $33 billion) and most recently transitioned roles as CEO to Board Chair at Carbon Materials (a unicorn startup.) Beyond Ellen’s ability to build companies, she also advises Fortune 500 companies. She has/is on the board of General Motors, United Technologies, Dell, Amgen, Goldman Sachs, atnd Carbon.

What’s wild is that Ellen’s in-person aura is more impressive than her paper resume. When chatting with her, it feels like you are listening to a future President speak…she uniquely exudes calmness and decisiveness in the same breath. Ellen is unapologetically herself (she’s a major Taco Bell fan!) and has found ways to hack her life to be prepared for success. For example, when Ellen went to Japan for work trips, she would find hotels based on gym times so that she could get a sweat in before a day of back-to-back meetings. “I would intentionally find hotels where gyms opened at 5:30 instead of 6:30 so that she could sweat ahead of a big day of meetings. My assistant knew that anything opening past 6am was off the list.” The Japan gym story is a strange but perfect example of how Ellen has implemented life hacks to ensure she can be mentally and physically ready to perform no matter the situation.

I could write a novel on Ellen’s operating advice but here are a few insights that I felt compelled to highlight:

How to hire people: “Imagine you are delayed in O’hare - would you want to spend 3 hours in a snowstorm with them?”
How to lead people: “Presence is important. You must be aware of how others view you in a work setting.”
How to collaborate: “Nobody wants to follow Atila the Hun”
On the quintessential qualities of successful next-gen leaders: "Self-awareness and resilience reign supreme. There is no room for a defeatist 'woe is me' attitude."

For anyone yearning to secure a coveted board position, Ellen is the oracle of wisdom. Here is her advice:

Tactic: Have a senior advocate and leverage your informal network

Ellen’s first board seat was with General Motors. Her appointment was initiated by Chad Holliday, the former CEO and Chairman of Dupont. At the time, Chad was running Dupont and knew Rick Wagoner, the CEO of GM (General Motors.) When a seat opened up on GM’s board, Rick asked Chad for recommendations. Ellen was an SVP at the time and was a top performer. “I got the shoulder tap,” says Ellen. Ellen emphasizes that Chad advocated for her. It was a critical step in the path towards attaining that first board seat.

Please note: In a previous newsletter, Above The Median explored the concept of sponsorship in detail. I encourage you to peruse that edition if you happen to have missed it.

Ellen, drawing from her own journey, imparts wisdom with three pivotal questions for women seeking board positions: "Does your boss know? Do you have their support? Who's in your influential network?" These answers hold the keys to success.

ABOVE THE MEDIAN SPOTLIGHT:

When Linda Segre was 18, she got a full ride to Stanford with the help of her golf game. “I wouldn’t have been able to afford it otherwise,” says Linda. Post college, her unique athletic mindset and intellect primed her well to succeed in corporate America. After playing professionally on the European circuit for a year, Linda rose up the ranks at BCG, was recruited by Sheryl Sandberg to be a Managing Director at Google, and inevitably led Diamond Foods as the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy & People Officer.

Linda now sits on two public boards: Callaway Golf and Mission Produce Inc.

Tactic: Be an Expert

“It’s important to know what you have to offer a board (other than providing diversity). There is high demand for financial experts to be on audit committees, as well as cyber security and risk management expertise. If you have something to offer a board, make sure your LinkedIn profile shows that, try to meet with some of the major search firms (Heidrick, Struggles, Spencer Stuart, Korn Ferry, etc) to get your name and profile in front of them” - Linda

As we’ve emphasized, utilize your networks as well! Schools, former employers, social circles and friends. Make sure people know that you are interested in a board. Be vocal.

Tactic: Get Someone Else to Say What You Want

Early on at Callaway Golf, Linda didn’t feel that she was effective in getting her points across. She admits, “I am not sure who was at fault for this.” Instead of pouting, she got strategic. She invited all the board members flying in the night before the board meeting to have dinner at her hotel. During those dinners, she would recommend ideas to all her male board counterparts. When it came time for the board meeting the next day, “The men would make the points and they would be agreed upon by everyone!” says Linda. “While this may sound disheartening, it did work well and now I don’t have that issue.” Linda now chairs two compensation committees and spends a lot of time talking one on one outside of the formal board meetings with the other committee members.

It is important to remember, a lot of conversations happen ahead of the actual board meeting. Additionally - as Liza Landsman said in a former spotlight, “If you don’t care who gets credit, you will get a lot more accomplished.”

ABOVE THE MEDIAN SPOTLIGHT:

In the whirlwind year of 2008, while the financial world was doing its best impression of a dramatic soap opera, there was a financial maven in the making - Norma Corio. A year no one in their right mind would want even a sniff of the banking world, there’s Norma, not just working at JPMC (JPMorgan Chase & Co) but being called to be the Treasurer for the company. It was like being handed the reins in the middle of a tornado while the mightiest governments watched every move.

Norma didn’t just survive the tornado, but she thrived. Norma helped steer one of the globe’s financial juggernauts through waters rougher than the Atlantic during the world’s second-worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Her spectacular performance didn’t go unnoticed – soon thereafter she was helping Private Equity for JPMC which had a jaw-dropping 2.5 trillion balance sheet.

Post JPMC, Norma didn’t miss a beat. As a true finance professional, she went on to hold roles such as CFO at American Express Global Business Travel and Senior Managing Director at One Equity Partners. Now she's juggling not one, but six board seats, guiding both public and private companies.

So what’s the secret behind Norma’s magic? She spilled some of her top tips (thank you, Norma!)

Here are some that were my favorites:

1. Ditch the "attaboy" mentality: Aim for constant improvement, not just pats on the back. Always seek feedback on how you can do better.
2. Work smart, not just hard: Don't just spin your wheels; make every rotation count.
3. Be a mentor and delegate: Train your future replacements, so you can advance, and remember, everyone's human and bound to slip up now and then.
4. Pebble, Rock, Boulder: Your impact as a leader ripples through the team. As Norma says, ““Drop a pebble in a pond, there’s a ripple. Drop a rock, there’s a bigger splash. When you are a boulder, you disturb everything. The entire pond feels your affects when you are the boulder.” As a leader, your behavior influences the entire team. If you are the boulder, be self aware. People don’t want to work for boulders that are negative.

In addition to Norma’s leadership advice on delegation and the psychology of the “boulder,” Norma provided two strong tactics on how to both join boards and add tangible value.

Tactic: Be disciplined in what positions you accept

“I turned down nine board opportunities in the first 6 months of this year,” says Norma. Understand the company. Read everything. And then you have to understand the CEO. “I uncovered issues from doing my homework that have since come to light in more public settings. Some of the issues would not have been solvable by the board because they were industry specific issues.” Norma says that she also asks herself questions such as

How much time do you need to spend on the company?
Who else is on the board? And what are their capabilities and experiences?
How can I be helpful to Management and Shareholders?

“Be judicious and smart about the management team and the other board members. You will be spending a lot of time with them.”

Tactic: Listen, Listen, Listen

“People who give monologues are usually not helpful,” says Norma. Instead of constantly offering her opinion, Norma tries to dissect the correct direction through questions. If she disagrees with someone, she asks them why they espouse those views and tries to listen to the answer and be open to that. “There is a reason that a board member is there…understand why and listen to what that person has to say rather than immediately challenging them.”

Norma also emphasizes that a board seat is typically not a place for “on the job” training. A board is supposed to be a blend of varied experiences from people who have made and learned from mistakes and who have had successes.

If you’re looking to navigate the complexity of corporate governance, the above tactics will help you.