Put this skill set on the spec sheet: how communication professionals can help corporate boards--as a peer board member.

• Author: Bird, Shelley
• Position: BOARD COMPOSITION

Few communication professionals have ever earned a seat inside the boardroom--as a full-fledged director. I believe this could be the next milestone for communication professionals. It's time for the best in our profession to move to this new table.

I have worked in communication for well over two decades. I've worked in several Fortune 500 companies in countries around the world and in many industries. I've worked on both the corporate and agency side and in my own consultancy. Throughout my career, I've watched boards wrestle with difficult issues. I've seen how a little foresight--specifically acquired through a communication lens--could have avoided big problems and generated better outcomes. A top-notch communication professional, serving as a director, can bring real value to a corporate board,

I am not suggesting that boards are not doing a good job or that every communicator deserves to become a director. But I do see an opportunity for the best in our profession to add value at the board level.

Defining a 21st century communicator

So, which communication professionals would add the most value as a board member? Senior professionals who have the following four key attributes--qualities that make them "21st century communicators":

1. We are business leaders first. We have expertise in a specific discipline, just as a CFO, chief human resource officer, or chief marketing officer is a business leader first, who also has expertise in a specific area. As I look at my peers, I see that the way senior communica-tion professionals have been successful has been by being strong business people first, developing business acumen and then layering the communication discipline onto that as a leadership competency. When I look at leaders in business, I see that, at the very top levels, expertise in their specific area is a given. What distinguishes the best from the rest is communication. Communication is a hard skill and a leadership competency.

2. We are holistic thinkers. In fact, we might have the most inclusive viewpoint of any corporate officer. Most of the other officers in a company focus on a single stakeholder group. Someone with a financial background might focus on investors. HR will focus on employees. Marketing focuses on customers.

   What's unique about a senior communication executive is that no single stakeholder is elevated over the others. We look at the environment, and we look at stakeholders, holistically. We think about the company's relationships with all of those stakeholders. We anticipate how our actions would affect those relationships and the company's reputation.

3. We emphasize business results over tactics. Tactics will always be part of our job, but if we are known only for our tactics, we are stuck at the end of the process--stuck at execution--instead of being part of the process at the very beginning when strategy is formulated. Execution is important. Thomas Edison once said, "Vision without execution is hallucination." But the 21st century communicator makes a real contribution by being involved in every stage: vision, strategy, and execution.

4. We shape how our companies behave. Finally, 21st century communicators don't just help companies communicate; we shape how they act. We influence their culture and behavior. We affect how employees talk with each other and how transparent we are, and we have a hand in shaping ethics and corporate culture.

   Now that I've defined the type of communication professionals who should serve on boards, let me make the case for why they should be there.

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