On becoming a director: a talk with Richard Parsons.

• Author: Citrin, James M.
• Position: Interview

Richard D. Parsons was 37 years old when he joined his first public corporation board. That was 10 years ago, when he was managing partner of the New York law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb and Tyler. He subsequently became chairman and chief executive officer of Dime Bancorp Inc., one of the largest thrift institutions in the United States. In October 1994, he joined Time Warner Inc. as president. He had been a member of the Time Warner board, joining it in 1991 at the still youthful (for directorships) age of 43. He continues to serve on the board of Time Warner, and also is a director of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Philip Morris Companies Inc.

James M. Citrin, author of the accompanying article, "Should You Recruit a Young Director?," and Martin D. Porter, assistant editor of Directors & Boards, visited with Mr. Parsons recently in his Rockefeller Center office to talk about some of the age-related issues involving boards of directors. Many keen observations emerge on this subject from his reflections on his personal experiences on boards, the early career influences, and his advice on positioning oneself for a directorship opportunity. Excerpts from the discussion follow.

James M. Citrin: If I asked you to guess what percentage of outside directors of major Fortune 100 corporations are 45 years old or younger, what would you answer?

Richard D. Parsons: I would say less than 2%.

Citrin: Right. The exact answer is 1%. And only 6% of directors in this group are 50 or younger. Does that surprise you?

Parsons: No, it doesn't. With the exception of the Dime Bancorp board, I am probably the youngest director on all of the other boards on which I serve.

Citrin: Why do you think that boards are comprised of executives generally in their sixties?

Parsons: First and foremost, the way things work at this level is on the basis of personal relationships -- who you know and who you are comfortable with. Or, who is known to people you know and feel comfortable with. It is not as rigid an old boys' network, to use that term, as in the days when people knew each other from the same country club and that sort of thing. But it is still fairly rigid when people ask about directors.

While the search process is becoming more professionalized, companies use search firms less aggressively in looking for directors than for management talent. The process is basically driven by the CEO, and most CEOs are looking for either one of two things -- peers, which suggests executives in their same age group, or more senior people who bring prestige and stature to the board simply because of who they are and their obvious accomplishments. So by and large, this is an age-biased set of selection criteria.

Citrin: Do you see this...