Board Skillsets - Not Just Ticking Boxes - Sarah Dodds Brown
The thought of board service interviews can sound very intimidating to many. However, it does not have to be, as long as you leverage your experiences and your transferable skills properly. I recently had the opportunity to be featured on Direct Women’s webinar Gateway to Corporate Board Service: Demystifying the Experiences.
“These aren’t necessarily ticking the box kind of skills. It’s not like a deal sheet that you want to be able to show that you touch these different areas but it is really about the skills and critical thinking along with the types of exposure to those issues. Figuring out how to navigate them that you bring to bear in the boardroom.”
“Relating it back to the best athlete model, one of the biggest misconceptions that I had was that there was a prototype of the profile of the director that a particular company was looking for, that they are looking for people with the same kind of skill set. I’ve found that not to be true in my experience.”
“One of the most fulfilling dimensions of being on a board is the different skill sets that the different board members bring to bear. You’ve got financial experts, people with a deep operational background, people with retail, customer focus. I’m bringing risk management and leadership coming from a big company and customer orientation.”
“The richness of the discussion and the ability to see how others bring their expertise to bear and how it all comes together is a fascinating thing to watch.”
About Sarah Dodds-Brown: Sarah is a legal strategist who uses her field of expertise to influence business. She strives to thoughtfully challenge status quo thinking and widen the pipeline of professional talent to include more diverse and underrepresented candidates. Currently, she works as the Executive Vice President & Managing Counsel for Global Enterprise Services & U.S. Market at American Express.
