Getting on board: Seven action steps--accompanied by a big dose of persistence, timing and luck.

• Author: Shultz, Susan F. Barker, Robert
• Position: DIRECTOR RECRUITMENT

Call it the boardroom Catch-22: It's difficult to get on a board if you don't have board experience. But, you can't get the experience without your first board seat. The solution? If you're really serious about getting on a board, create a strategy and be prepared to do the homework. Getting on board is like getting a job. Here are the steps.

1. Make Sure You Are Qualified

   Serving on a board, particularly a public board, requires a certain level of professional experience and achievement. Regardless of your area of expertise, you need to have the gravitas that inspires confidence in fellow directors and assures them you will be a valuable colleague and partner in discussions and decision making.

   "Professional reputation is really the cornerstone," says Mary Anne Harlan, who serves on the Gorman-Rupp Co. board. "If you've done the hard work and have a reputation as someone who thinks strategically and would be an asset in the boardroom, that's really the first step."

   Increasingly, significant operating experience is important. The most desired backgrounds and expertise; in order of preference, are active CEO/CO-Os, finance, industry specific, international, and minorities and women. As boards recognize escalating cyber risk, digital media and IT expertise are becoming more important.

   Be clear about the type of board you are qualified for:

   * Do you have special industry expertise--manufacturing, financial services, technology, medical devices., energy, retail? Experience in other sectors?

   * Do you prefer a certain geography? East Coast? International?

   * Do you have particular experience, perhaps in companies with multiple locations, a regulated industry, mergers and acquisition, IPOs, global?

   * Do you have domain expertise, perhaps in finance, legal, marketing, sales, social media, mergers and acquisitions? Or in an area that would be especially helpful on the board committees, such as audit, compensation and/or governance? At present, executive pay is the primary focus of shareholder activists, so .compensation knowledge is especially helpful.

   * The most important thing a board does is ensure that the right leadership is in place and has the resources to be successful. Do you have significant human relations experience? Have you been engaged in strategic planning that provides the context for evaluating your CEO and her successor?

2. Network

   If the ward "network" makes you cringe, it's not going to be easy for you to acquire a board seat...