Silicon Valley boards think and act differently: the best boards are part of the culture of the organization and thrive on the constant reinvention of the companies they serve.

• Author: Klopp, Hap
• Position: BOARD LEADERSHIP: COVER STORY - Reprint

Great Silicon Valley boards know that fast growth requires experienced people, and some of the best-experienced people are those who have failed and learned. Those people are highly desirable. A great Silicon Valley board understands that.

It works like this: Silicon Valley is entrepreneurship on steroids. Companies scale here like nowhere else. Businesses rise and fall faster than anywhere else in the world. Everything is magnified: differences of opinions, the searching and finding of capital, selling and merging, and new theories of management, along with expanded egos and, yes, greed. They all come forth in Silicon Valley. And, many of the personalities (on the boards and in the C-suite) are bigger than life--or at least bigger than life outside Silicon Valley. This leads to a very energizing environment ... and, some very lively board meetings.

In Silicon Valley, people are encouraged to swing for the fences and to "dent the universe," as Steve Jobs liked to say. It's a place where failure is embraced because everyone knows that the taking of huge risks and the building of disruptive companies and disruptive industries that everyone in Silicon Valley craves to do have a much higher probability of failure.

Not afraid of being different

With that as a background, Silicon Valley board members think and act differently, and much of the boardroom advice comes from an entirely different perspective. Ideas, advice and practices are ever evolving to match the ever-increasing pace of the Valley. Some of the practices work and greatly enhance the companies they guide. Some do the opposite, but just like their companies, the boards in Silicon Valley are not afraid of being different.

Like everywhere in the business community, great boards provide governance, guidance and grit. Ineffective boards get hung up on micromanaging, meddling and minutia.

In my experience, boards can be either great or bad depending on the extent to which the members are self aware and mature. The best boards in Silicon Valley understand and are part of the culture of the company. They thrive on the constant reinvention of the companies they serve, and don't get upset with change. Even major change.

Most importantly, the members of the best boards seem to understand that when you realize you don't know it all, you can be a really good board member. And they seem to be able to laugh at the fact that bad decisions do make great stories.

The good and not so good

Here are...