Guidance for the board candidate.

• Author: Lagomarsino, Peter
• Position: Brief article

* Expect to Give Your Consent: Getting a board candidate's signed consent is legally required in some places, such as the EU, and it is becoming the global standard. You should expect to sign a consent form before any vetting is done on you. It should outline the scope of the background check and may also communicate your rights under the law with respect to how your data is handled and stored.

* Edit Your Social Media Profiles: Social and professional networking sites can be useful, but we caution you to keep potentially controversial opinions, grievances and other content under wraps. Be very careful with your privacy settings and periodically search for your own profiles on Google, under your name and handle, to assure that what's private is kept private. We have found many damaging indiscretions on social media even from the most pedigreed executives.

* Double Check Your Resume: A number of high-profile corporate scandals could have been avoided if folks had double-checked the educational...