Digital directors can be the deciding factor: why boards need them, and what they look for when recruiting members with digital and social media expertise.

• Author: Gottenberg, Norbert
• Position: DIRECTOR RECRUITING

ARE BOARDS RECRUITING digital and social media 'experts'? Absolutely, for many 'consumer-focused' companies, e.g., Amazon.com, Wal-Mart Stores, and Walt Disney, and especially for companies such as Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, and Twitter that are at the core of today's rapidly expanding digital and social media (DSM) environment. These boards recognize their increased dependence and acute need for DSM expertise at the table to support their governance and strategic decision-making activities, as well as their ability to interact effectively with constituencies.

The answer for 'commercially-fo- cused' companies, e.g., Chevron, Fluor, i and International Paper, is yes--but I perhaps not as intensely as 'consumer-focused' companies. Therefore, commercially-focused companies will not be covered in this article.

The need for DSM experts

With two-thirds of GDP driven by consumer spending, having DSM expertise at the board level could be the deciding factor as to whether a company succeeds or fails in the long term.

In today's turbocharged DSM environment, information/content is obtained and distributed in 'real time,' thereby directly impacting how a company: (1) listens to the world, starting with its customers, but also to its critics and competitors; (2) defines its products/services going forward; and (3) seeks and obtains board approval for that definition and requisite investments. Without DSM expertise at the board level, support for a company's business mission and the executive management team could be severely impacted. At an extreme, a company's survival could be at stake, since at the end of the day it is the board (in concert with the CEO) that has ultimate responsibility for a company's success or failure.

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Historically, traditional media has been the primary means of communicating, albeit limited to one-way (outward) communication, with constituencies, e.g., customers, investors, etc. But with today's comprehensive and sophisticated global DSM platforms, the communication environment has been radically transformed, and so has the decision-making process at the board level. In particular, the role played through the use of DSM can significantly influence how board members think and react, in light of real-time information/insight flowing both ways, and how they can avoid undesirable filtering by the C-suite.

As such, it is crucial for a company's board to be sensitized to this fundamental transformation, which...