A rifle shot.

• Author: Rock, Robert H.
• Position: Search for good corporate director

Getting good directors is not easy. Everyone wants CEOs of major companies; however, these executives are usually all "boarded up." Next in line are the direct reports to CEOs, heads of smaller companies, and retired chief executives. They usually have greater availability and often make excellent directors. Fast-track executives, such as division heads of major companies, comprise a third tier of talent. Finally, there are professionals such as lawyers, bankers, nonprofit heads, and academics who are eager and able to serve on boards.

A company on whose board I serve recently recruited a new director. Although the company is low-tech, our nominating committee drew up specifications highlighting the desire for someone with a cutting-edge understanding of the digital display market, a potential new area of opportunity for our company's traditional sign and display business. The committee wanted to extend the board's intellectual reach into emerging technologies and developing markets of the company's presentation graphics business. This business is going digital, and our company cannot afford to be left behind in its pencil-and-paper past.

Rather than looking for a general manager running a major business, the nominating committee asked its search firm to find a technologist expert in digital display. The search firm came up with three candidates, all with highly technical backgrounds. We selected a Ph.D. physicist and former engineering professor who runs a state-of-the-art start-up for the world's leading manufacturer of digital display technology. With his cutting-edge knowledge, this world...