Girls In Tech

By Marvin Brown

Whether you’re engaging in chitchat with coworkers on the first day of your new job, or talking to a prospective client to land a potential sale, you need good communication skills in the workplace.

All employees experience awkward moments, such as being alone in the elevator with their boss for the interminable 10-floor ride, or getting tongue-tied in a particularly competitive and fast-paced departmental meeting.

Don’t worry! Even if you’re an introvert, being a great talker is a learnable skill. All it takes is a few techniques and a little practice. Here are some common communication pitfalls that can work to your disadvantage in professional settings, and how to navigate around them.

Succumbing to lazy talk. Lazy talk consists of clichés or fillers that we repeat so often, we don’t hear ourselves saying them. Examples include: you know and like. Overusing the word thing, when another word would be more descriptive, and vague expressions such as etc., whatever, and stuff like that are also lazy talk.

The fix: Imagine that your words have value, where vague and meaningless words are worthless, and specific, interesting words cost more. Make your speech more valuable by minimizing lazy speech.

Creating conversational dead ends. If conversation doesn’t go back and forth, it serves little purpose. We create conversational dead ends by asking questions that have single-word answers. “How are you?” and “Hi” are two common examples.

The fix: When engaging in small talk, ask open-ended questions that spark meaningful exchanges. Examples: “What did you do that was exciting this weekend?” or “How do you stay so cheerful on a Monday morning?”

Letting a subject pass. People we chat with almost always offer an opening, conversationally speaking, but if you’re not looking for these, an opportunity to go deeper may pass you by.

The fix: If someone says, “Thanks for noticing I lost weight. It’s always a battle to stay in shape since I love to cook,” instead of nodding and saying nothing, you could follow up with a question or statement about dieting, fitness, or cooking.

Offering an opinion as fact. We’ve all been guilty of making declarations that sound as though they should be carved in stone. “That’s the best Italian restaurant around,” or “Obama is doing a great job as president.”

The fix: To avoid being labeled a know-it-all by your coworkers, colleagues, and clients, all you have to do is preface such statements with “It seems to me” or “I’ve come to believe” or “I think.”

Trying to be overly charming. Do you feel the need to tell jokes, throw around fancy words, and be the life of the cubicle? Being overly charming can backfire.

The fix:Good conversationalists talk about plain, simple subjects when trying to get to know and get along with other people. Forget about being super eloquent, clever, or pretentious. Keep your exchanges simple and direct. Trying to impress others will only come across as disingenuous and fake. It’s alienating to others.

Forgetting to speak body language. You may be distracted at work and merely mumble a hello when a coworker walks past. Or when you meet someone new, you simply announce your name and that’s your greeting. Body language is as important as verbal language when it comes to making first impressions, giving your message impact, and winning people’s trust.

The fix: When greeting a work associate, look up from what you’re doing, make eye contact, and smile. You’ve just told that person with your body language, “You’re worthwhile and I’m glad to see you.” When meeting someone for the first time, say your name while extending a firm handshake; research shows they’re 75% more likely to remember you.

Exiting awkwardly. It’s common to have difficulty ending conversations graciously with someone we’ve just met, not to mention those annoying people who corner us at the water cooler where we can’t easily escape. Don’t make up an untrue excuse, such as a phone call you’re (not) expecting, or say, “Well, uh, I gotta go.” If you do, it will create a feeling of bad will.

The fix: Make the other person feel good before you say goodbye. “Richie, it’s been a pleasure (smile, offer your hand), but I have to get back to my office. Hope to catch you later.”

Spoiling a compliment. Many of us have a difficult time accepting compliments. Two of the most common mistakes people make are contradicting the complimenter who tells you that you look great, “Nah, I’m a mess today,” or discounting their words by bouncing it right back, “You too.”

The fix: Take it in, and let the other person know that their gesture of generosity is meaningful. Smile, and say something like, “Thanks! You made my day.”

Texting, not talking. How many times have you been in the elevator or break room where people who know each other are focused on their smartphones? This sends a rude message to the other person that they don’t matter. In business, it’s a missed opportunity to connect and possibly learn something.

The fix: Save texting and emailing for times when you’re alone or actually in the presence of strangers, such as on the long commuter ride home on the train. Practice the art of small talk by asking a polite question about a topic—a current event, perhaps, or a specific detail about that person’s family or interests. “Have you been golfing yet this year?”

Taking criticism poorly. There’s nothing worse than an employee or coworker who won’t hear feedback, gets defensive, and thus impedes progress at work.

The fix:Try to listen to what the other person is saying about your work, not about you, personally. Then respond with a simple statement that shows appreciation, such as “Thank you for pointing that out to me,” or “That’s really helpful—you just did me a big favor.”

Marvin Brown is an expert in business communication strategies, a sought-after speaker, and the author of the instant classic How to Meet and Talk to Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime: Simple Strategies for Great Conversations. Get copies  here.

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By Pamela Ryckman, Author of Stiletto Network: Inside the Women’s Power Circles That Are Changing the Face of Business

Spend a little time with women in Silicon Valley, and you start to wonder: Who are these advanced creatures, with their super-glued networks and willingness to roll the dice? What makes them willing to open not only their Rolodexes, but also their wallets on each other’s behalf?

Many believe the region’s singular entrepreneurial ecosystem encourages everyone — and women, disproportionately — to revel in possibilities.

“It’s a culture of risk-taking,” says Sue Siegel, the C.E.O. of Healthyimagination, G.E.’s $6 billion global healthcare initiative, and a former partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, a venture capital firm in Menlo Park. “Entrepreneurship is so embedded here. It’s what everyone talks about. If you don’t participate, you’re on the outside. When I did a counseling event at my son’s school, every single junior in his high school class knew what a venture capitalist was.”

Siegel says that when she first joined Mohr Davidow after having been an entrepreneur, she tried to determine why 40% of venture investing occurred in the Bay Area, rather than in Boston or other major cities. Boston also has world-class universities and research facilities, and in Boston, just as in Silicon Valley, founders benefit from infrastructure and support — lawyers, accountants, HR executives, and consultants willing to work on a project-basis to buttress the budding entrepreneur. If neither research resources nor professional scaffolding was the distinguishing factor, then what was so special about her hometown?

Siegel decided it was a deep and ingrained ethos, a set of unique cultural norms developed after three decades watching companies congeal and fall apart. Astounding victories and cringe-inducing failures are everywhere, so it’s second-nature for locals to gamble on start-ups. “Boston has the Brahmin bow-tie society and status thing. Failure in Boston is unacceptable. You cannot fail and feel good about it,” Siegel says. “But you fail in Silicon Valley and the next VC hires you because they see you’ve learned from it. They see you’re not going to repeat your mistakes now that you understand the landmines. Look at Google. They got turned down by so many venture firms and they’re proud of it. Here we wear failure as a badge of experience and honor. I survived!”

Heidi Roizen, a partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the venture capital firm, and former entrepreneur, agrees, saying Valley denizens — both male and female — have no choice but to hustle. “I was employee number one at a start-up and if I didn’t make meaningful connections, follow up, and sell things, I wasn’t going to eat. When you’re in an entrepreneurial situation, you have to motivate people and you have to reciprocate and be helpful to others,” she says. “Life here is in constant beta, and that’s a really good thing. We constantly have to reinvent ourselves because of the way the world is evolving.”
Silicon Valley is the crucible. There’s no notion of status or society or lineage, and many of the wealthiest “locals” are fresh off the boat. While some insist it’s not a completely level playing field, this region remains the biggest meritocracy the U.S. has to offer. In chaos lies the opportunity.

By founding or joining start-ups, women see an opportunity to be judged on the merit of their ideas, rather than their gender. “The tech industry as a whole has been one of the most long-standing meritocracies. The start-up is the door to the palace. It’s always been the path for innovators to fast-track themselves to success,” says Amanda Reed, a partner at Palomar Ventures, the venture capital firm. Reed sees women streaming into the Valley in record numbers. “For women, there’s no climbing the corporate ladder or doing time in a male world. West Coast women don’t have that ‘I win-you lose’ competitiveness — the blue suits, the hard shells.”

Reed, who is in her mid-40′s, was raised in Silicon Valley and her father was an entrepreneur in the early days of the PC revolution. She spent all but three years of her career close to home, but she says her former Dartmouth classmates who remained on the East Coast tell a different tale. “I live under an equality bubble that sits over the San Francisco Bay area. I never felt the glass ceiling growing up and working in Silicon Valley,” she says. “When I went back to my college reunion, I had a lack of things to contribute when my friends wanted to commiserate about the plight of the sisterhood. Because I’d never felt it.”

Despite the bombshell sex discrimination lawsuit filed in May 2012 by Ellen Pao, a partner at Kleiner Perkins, one of the most illustrious VC firms, Reed says Silicon Valley gals are less organized because they don’t have a common enemy. They don’t feel the same oppression. Instead, these women credit male colleagues with providing milieus where they can thrive.
“Our work-life dynamic is just different. We work with male partners who take the afternoons off to coach their sons’ football teams. They’ll say, ‘I can talk to you after 6 p.m. tonight, but not before,’” Reed says. “Here in the Valley, you don’t feel like you have to hide the fact that you’re a girl. My partners would stop marathon Monday partner meetings and check emails while I went to use my breast pump. As long as I’m making money for the fund, they make it an easy place for me to work.”
Silicon Valley promotes better partnerships between the sexes, both at home and in the workplace. As a result, when women are disgruntled in their careers, they’re more likely to vote with their feet. “Why stay in a job where you’re unhappy? If you’re good, you leave and it’s their loss,” Reed continues. “We work seamlessly with men. We appreciate men. I’ve had the chance to mentor both my partners’ daughters. If it weren’t for the men we work with being pro-women, we wouldn’t be in a position to invest in their daughters’ companies. Their mothers said, ‘I kicked the door open, Sweetie. Now you run through it.’”
© 2013 Pamela Ryckman, author of Stiletto Network: Inside the Women’s Power Circles That Are Changing the Face of Business

Author Bio
Pamela Ryckman is the author of the forthcoming book, Stiletto Network: Inside the Women’s Power Circles That Are Changing the Face of Business. She has written for The New York Times, Financial Times, Fortune.com/ CNNMoney, International Herald Tribune, The New York Observer, and The New York Sun, among other publications. Prior to becoming a journalist, she performed strategy work for Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs. She lives in New York City.
For more information please visit http://www.pamelaryckman.com, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter

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After working for more than 20 years in the high-tech industry, there isn’t much that’s new to me about the issues facing women in our field. And it’s fair to say that while some things have changed, many others haven’t. It’s still a challenge to move up the high-tech corporate ladder.

Tell me, however, for who it isn’t. Advancing in the business world is tough. Women may face different—and yes, perhaps additional—challenges compared to men. But for me, at least, the answer was to listen, continually learn, be a team player and add value to the bottom line. That’s it.

My area of specialty, operations, supply chain management, and contract negotiations requires the identification of repeatable, reliable and traceable processes. In a way, that discipline has shaped my approach to succeeding in companies largely dominated by men. I started my career in earnest in the 1980’s at Texas Instruments as a manufacturing engineer—even back then, TI was a pretty progressive company when it came to diversity. Yet it would have been easy for me to have taken up the mantle of workplace equality.

Instead, I realized it was more effective to figure out the game. I put my head down, identified a niche, and strove to make a difference. Whenever any drama came along, I tried to stay above it. My strategy worked. By becoming the person who made things happen, who created efficiencies and saved the company real money, I was recognized as a substantial contributor. Management positions soon followed.

In the early days of an engineering career, you’re probably in a job next to three or four men, and all of you have equal qualifications. It’s on you to prove yourself as the one to watch. So maybe your goal isn’t to get to the executive suite—even if you aspire to become a senior engineer someday, you need to demonstrate that your contributions are significant.

Anytime during my journey, I could have easily made gender my “issue.” But I’ve never been a fan of that approach. I wanted to play in this world, so I listened and learned. I made an effort to network with successful, proven people—mostly men, actually, along with a few women. My goal was not so much to get career tips, as it was to find out how to do my job better and always make a difference with grace and confidence.  I collaborated with them, formed lasting relationships and studied what worked. Then I mirrored their behavior.

Recently I moved from a pure-play technology company to one that, for a woman, is even more demanding: TrackingPoint, a developer of precision-guided firearm systems. If there is any field more male-dominated than high-tech, the gun industry may just be it. I know, however, why I was hired: to find ways to do things better, cheaper, faster while forming long term strategic relationships.   It’s what I know best and it’s what I’ve proven I can do.

Stick with what you know, accomplish tasks that make a difference, listen intently and speak when you have relevance to add. Do that, and things have a way of working themselves out.

MARSHA OSBORN is Senior Vice President, Operations for TrackingPoint. Named a Woman of the Year in Technology by the National Association of Professional Women, Osborn earned her Six Sigma Master Black Belt certification from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration (industrial engineering) from the University of North Texas.

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Launch Tennessee (LaunchTN), a public-private partnership supporting high-growth companies in Tennessee, has announced two panels for its upcoming Southland conference that will explore national and regional trends in venture capital and early-stage funding.

A new conference that brings together the ideas, talent and capital that fuel a strong startup culture, Southland is scheduled for June 12-13 at the Cannery in Nashville. Tickets for the two-day conference are available online at www.southlandse.com.

Both of the investor panels announced today are scheduled for the first day of the conference. The national panel, “VC Trends: From Silicon Valley to the Southeast,” will feature Mark Kvamme, Paul Santinelli and Jason Sibley. Kvamme is a co-founder and partner of Columbus, Ohio-based Drive Capital. He previously was special limited partner and general partner at Menlo Park, Calif.-based Sequoia Capital, where he was the founding investor of LinkedIn, Cast Iron Systems (acquired by IBM), MarkLogic Corporation and Funnyordie.com.

Santinelli is a partner at North Bridge Venture Partners in Palo Alto, Calif., where he specializes in communications and infrastructure and focuses on investments in open source, software, security, Internet applications and infrastructure and communications. He was previously founder and CEO of NOCpulse, a Silicon Valley software startup that was acquired by Red Hat Network.

Sibley is a director at GE Ventures, Healthymagination Fund. He was previously a vice president at GE Equity and a member of its healthcare investment team. He is currently building out GE Ventures’ Boston investment office, which is focused on life sciences, medical technology and energy investments. 

“Mark, Paul and Jason are experienced investors who can provide the kind of insight that early-stage companies need,” said Charlie Brock, CEO of LaunchTN. “This panel will be an outstanding opportunity for entrepreneurs to get an insider’s perspective on what investors are looking for today.” 

The regional investor panel, “VC Trends: Focus on the Southeast,” includes Rik Vandevenne with River Cities Capital Funds of Cincinnati, Ohio and Raleigh, N.C.; David Jones with Southern Capitol Ventures/Bull City Venture Partners of Raleigh, N.C.; Spence McClelland with Noro-Moseley Partners of Atlanta; and Sid Chambless of the Nashville Capital Network.

In addition to investor panelists, representatives from more than 35 venture capital companies are attending Southland, including Durham, N.C.-based Hatteras Venture Partners; Menlo Park, Calif.-based Shasta Ventures; and Battery Ventures, which has offices in Waltham, Mass., Menlo Park, Calif., and Israel.

Other Southland speakers and panelists include Slava Rubin, co-founder and CEO of Indiegogo; Dan Pelino, general manager of IBM Healthcare and Life Sciences Industry; Ali Partovi, co-founder of Code.org; George Kliavkoff, executive vice president and deputy group head of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication; Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk; Paul Singh, partner at 500 Startups; and Sarah Lacy, founder and editor-in-chief of PandoDaily.

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EcoCAR 2: Plugging In to the Future is a three-year collegiate student engineering competition and the only program of its kind. Focused on vehicle integration of advanced propulsion technologies, EcoCAR 2 offers an unparalleled hands-on, real-world experience to educate the next generation of automotive engineers. The competition challenges 15 universities across North America to reduce the environmental impact of vehicles without compromising performance, safety and consumer acceptability.

Haley Moore a student at Purdue University started out wanting to be an engineer, all thanks to her uncle who took her to a NASCAR race when she was really young. “When I found out about the EcoCar 2 Challenge it allowed me to get back in the automotive area while still in school and I knew it would put me at an advantage over other engineers graduating at the same time that I would be,” said Moore.

Shaped by the greatest design changes in the history of the automotive industry, EcoCAR 2 requires students to explore a variety of powertrain architectures focusing on electric drive vehicle technology. Student designs will consider the well-to-wheel (WTW) impact of fuel use, and select renewable fuels.  EcoCAR 2 teams will utilize a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, donated by General Motors (GM), as the integration platform for their advanced vehicle design.

Haley has served as the project manager of her entire team since it began. “For me, one of the biggest things I have learned is how detailed exhaust systems can be; and at the same time on the manager side of things, I have learned how to work with people and be a better manager as well as how to make sure day to day operations of a group or a project in this case are flowing,” Moore stated. 

Having dealt with a few bumps along the road through the competition Haley feels she has the tools to succeed in the ever changing market place. “First of all the fact that I have real world project management experience having done this project sets me above the people who are going into project management in my age group. But for anyone having competed in this completion, it’s the fact that we have the real world experience while still in school; from developing a new vehicle and implementing it to rolling with the punches. The fact that we go in there having this training puts us above those who know nothing about hybrid vehicles,” said Moore.

For more information on the EcoCar2 Challenge or to follow Haley Moore and her team go to www.ecocar2.org

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By Merideth Dennes, ProjectEve

Intuit published an infographic presenting the best cities for female entrepreneurs, as well as some interesting statistics about the state of women-owned businesses in the US. The report looked at median education levels, unemployment rates, income, population and percentage of business owned by women in each city to provide an overall score for female entrepreneurship.

San Francisco ranks number one, followed by Seattle, Washington DC, Minneapolis, and Portland. Washington DC has the highest percentage of women-owned businesses at 34.5 percent, while Austin had the lowest unemployment rate. Chicago and New York did not even make the top ten. Of 552 female business owners surveyed, 66 percent said they are most optimistic about growth and revenue for 2013 than they were in 2012.

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Some really great stats on women-owned businesses in the US.

Tags: infographic, US, Women-Owned Business
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Forbes today announced its 10th annual ranking of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women , with German Chancellor Angela Merkel (No. 1) topping this year’s list for the third consecutive year and eight times in total.  She is followed by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at No. 2, and Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates, at No. 3. First Lady Michelle Obama moves up to No. 4.  Although Hillary Clinton recently left her high-power role as U.S. Secretary of State, she is still one of the most watched and listened-to women at No. 5.

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman (No. 15) is the subject of the Forbes cover story, “The Reluctant Savior .” Other women in tech include: Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (No. 6); IBM CEO Virginia Rometty (No. 12); Xerox CEO Ursula Burns (No. 14); Oracle CFO Safra Catz (No. 23) and Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer (No. 32).

“The rise of personal brands and entrepreneurial endeavors among this year’s Power Women are exciting trends as we mark our 10th year of publishing the list,” said Moira Forbes, President & Publisher, ForbesWoman. “From Singapore to Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom to the United States – and beyond – the 100 influential women on our list are making an indelible and lasting impact on the world we live in.”

Members of the 2013 ranking represent women in technology, politics, business, media, entertainment, non-profits and NGOs, as well as billionaires – all ranked by money, media presence and impact. The 24 corporate CEOs on the list lead companies with a combined $893 billion in 2012 revenues.  Eight heads of state run nations with a combined Gross Domestic Product of $9.9 trillion. The 100 women on the 2013 list have major reach: a combined Twitter following of over 153 million.  Entrepreneurial spirit runs through the 2013 list; 16 women founded their own companies.  Twenty-six countries are represented, and while the U.S. dominates the list, South America, Asia and the Middle East are also well represented.

Among the 15 newcomers on this year’s list are South Korean President Park Geun-hye (No. 11); Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson (No. 34); Tory Burch CEO Tory Burch (No. 69);  Spanx Founder Sara Blakely (No. 90) and Baidu CFO Jennifer Li (No. 98). Fifteen women dropped off list this year, including Laura Lang, Cynthia Carroll and Alice Walton.

RANK  NAME  TITLE, COUNTRY
1  Angela Merkel Chancellor, Germany
2  Dilma Rouseff President, Brazil
3  Melinda Gates Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, U.S.
4  Michelle Obama First Lady, U.S.
5  Hillary Rodham Clinton Former Secretary of State
6  Sheryl Sandberg COO, Facebook, U.S
7  Christine Lagarde Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, U.S.
8  Janet Napolitano Secretary of Homeland Security, U.S.
9  Sonia Gandhi President, Indian National Congress party, India
10  Indra Nooyi CEO, PepsiCo, U.S.
11  Park Geun-hye President, South Korea
12  Virginia Rometty CEO IBM, U.S.
13  Oprah Winfrey Media Mogul, U.S.
14  Ursula Burns CEO, Xerox, U.S.
15  Meg Whitman CEO Hewlett-Packard, U.S.

The publication of the list follows a successful Forbes Women’s Summit, held in NY on May 9, which convened more than 300 prominent women across multiple generations who showed how innovation and collaboration are the seeds of success.

For the complete ranking, methodology, videos and more, visit: www.forbes.com/power-women.
Follow Forbes on Twitter (www.twitter.com/Forbes <http://www.twitter.com/Forbes>  and www.twitter.com/ForbesPR <http://www.twitter.com/ForbesPR> ).

Tags: 100 Most Powerful Women, Adriana Gascoigne, Angela Merkel, forbes, girls in tech, women in business, Women in politics, women in tech
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Blog entry by Susan Mershon, ProjectEve

If you have multiple clients or are managing multiple projects using a Task Management system is a must. It can help keep you stay organized and keep you and your team on track.
There are several on the market that have similar functionality and offer a “free” level. Here are a few of the popular ones:

• Teamwork PM
• Basecamp
• Central Desktop
• Zoho

I recommend finding one that meets your needs and is a comfortable fit. If you’re not sure what your “needs” are, take a look at a few of them and select one that feels right. Sign up for the free level and give it a test drive. If you have a team give them access to the system and ask them to try it out and give their feedback. If you don’t have a team, ask one of your clients to assist you.

Here are 7 Useful Tips to get the most out of your Task Management system:

1. Setup Client/Project Folders

• Create a Client folder for each client
• Within each client folder; create folders for projects and/or recurring tasks

2. Setup Client Notebooks

• Use client notebooks to store client specific information such as contact info, log in details, etc
• This way there is one central location for client information and the team can easily locate and update it

3. Assign Tasks to Team Members

4. Track Time & Progress

• Update the % complete on tasks as they are being worked on
• This is great for keeping your client up to date on progress

5. Track Milestones

• Milestones are tasks that require no “work”
• They are a “check point” in a project
• I use them to help me determine if we are on track to meet our deadlines

6. Use Task Comments

• Instead of using email to communicate about a task; use the Task Comment feature
• It will keep all “communication” about a task stored with the task
• This is great when you have a team working together on a task or project

7. Store Project Resources

• Upload project files, audios, videos, etc

These tips will help you and your team stay organized! All project metrics are contained within the client and project folder. This makes it easy for your team to find the information they need and for the client to see how their project is progressing.

In case your curious, I use Teamwork PM for my business and love it! If you’ve found this blog valuable please share with your friends and colleagues and I would love your comments! Thanks for reading!
http://www.projecteve.com/add-a-blog/

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, girls in tech, ProjectEve, Susan Mershon, Task Management, women in tech
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Original blog entry in ProjectEve. By Jamie Glass, President and CMO at Artful Thinkers

There comes a time when assembling a group of experts to help grow your business is considered smart leadership and a business best practice. When you reach a stage in your business where you have exhausted the collective internal experience, knowledge and skill to achieve your next phase of growth — create a Board of Advisors.

Every purpose of creating a board will differ for each organization. A business owner may be faced with great opportunity for rapid growth or significant challenges from conquering the next ascent in revenue, market or product expansion. The appropriate time to consider assembling a board is when the business path forward is less clear or cluttered with obstacles that could derail you from achieving your business goals. You have reached that period in your business when their is more “unknown” and you fear what you don’t know.

A Board of Advisors is different from local peer groups, leadership councils, service providers and executive mentors. Your board is a committed team of individuals working on your business. Advisors should have congruent skills that compliment your leadership. As an example, you may find that by adding a distinguished industry expert or technical guru best serves the next phase of your business  Adding market or sales expertise can open new doors, while a finance or legal expert can provide insight to reduce risk.

Experienced executives want to help entrepreneurs, startups and leaders that seek advice to grow their business.  It validates their business “wear and tear”, while providing meaning and value to their experience. The board should round out your executive court, as these advisors are typically not available to hire as full-time employees and can be “unaffordable” for smaller businesses. They also may be those exclusive experts that will always be in a role of advising and never work for a single entity.

The reason you bring experts together as board members is to increase effectiveness and efficiency in decision-making and strategic planning. A board will perform best when there is an exchange of ideas in an organized environment, centered around a single business issue. The board format is designed to solve problems. Each board member brings a different set of experiences, viewpoints and resources. Having a board working together with you to assess challenges and discuss opportunities, gives you invaluable advise that can save you significant time and money versus the “learn as you go” approach.

Board of Advisors are not in a role of governance. They do not have fiduciary responsibility to protect shareholders or investors, though they should be very responsible in providing any guidance related to financials or spending company money. Only an elected Board of Directors for a public corporation or non-profit have governance over a company. The Board of Advisors is a non-binding group of mentors and experts that work collectively with company leadership to achieve your business goals.

Advisors should be completely aligned with your goal and mission and also be able to challenge you by providing recommendations and views that will differ from your own. You do not want a board that agrees with all your ideas or thinks as one. Why waste your time.  They should differ in expertise and have the ability to assess short-term and long-term strategies, out loud in a group discussion, without fear of reprisal.

A board is typically five to six members, excluding the CEO or business owner.  A Board of Advisors should consist of experienced and skilled individuals in varied areas where your business is lacking in comparable talent. In the early stage of a business, Board of Advisors are typically unpaid and may or may not have a long-term financial commitment through future equity.  As a business leader, be cautious of giving away ownership in your company early, this could be a note of contention with future financing.

The commitment of an advisor should be a minimum of two years.  It is valuable to set a term limit in reviewing board members, as you company is expected to grow and you need to be able to add new board members with different skills during later stages of your business.  Board members must also be committed to attend meetings.  A small business will typically meet with the entire board every 8-12 weeks.  If a board member misses more than two meetings a year, consider replacing the advisor.

Board members should not be family members, employees, contractors or service providers you pay for other functions in your business. It creates conflict of interests. Though a board of advisors are not employees, you should treat your advisors as accountable members of your C-suite. Set expectations, ask for help and use your board to help you achieve your goals.  If you simply assemble your Board and provide an update report on the business, you are wasting valuable resources and time.

Board of Advisors are trusted members of your inner circle. You can share with them confidential information and discuss highly sensitive matters that are not open for discussion with anyone else in your company. Your board should consist of credible experts that will provide insights you can not gain from any other resource. They should open doors, help you gain new customers or strategic partners and provide actionable ideas to help you achieve success. If you want to grow, create a Board of Advisors.

“You sit at the board and suddenly your heart leaps. Your hand trembles to pick up the piece and move it. But what chess teaches you is that you must sit there calmly and think about whether it’s really a good idea and whether there are other, better ideas.” - Stanley Kubrick

Jamie Glass, President and CMO at Artful Thinkers 

About me:  I have been helping business owners and CEOs grow, market and expand for more than two decades.  My corporate experience comes from sitting at the table as a senior executive in public and private companies.  I am a ravenous information consumer.  I am passionate about selling, marketing, digital media, technology, social engagement, investing, leadership, growth, women in business, networking and entrepreneurship.  I started as a communications person out of college and now I use this art to ignite conversations on topics that relate to my passions.  My goal is to help others do better and do more.  I am a managing director at an investment banking firm and own my own sales and marketing consulting practice.  Carpe Diem! @jglass8 Email: jamie@artfulthinkers.com

Tags: Adriana Gascoigne, Artful Thinkers, Board of Advisors, entrepreneurs, Jamie Glass, women in tech
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