You Schmooze, You Lose? Debunking the Myths (and Unlocking the Magic) of Networking Your Way to a Board Seat

Networking is like eating or sleeping—we all do it. If it really worked as the golden ticket to board seats, wouldn’t everyone already be on boards? If your calendar is packed with zoom chats, elevator pitches, and polite generic offers of “How can I help you?”—it may be time to pause and ask: Is all this networking actually helping you, or slowing you down?

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Is the Network Down?

Booking endless 1:1s with board directors can feel productive—but is it actually moving you forward? Here’s why networking often falls short:

• Board timelines rarely align with yours. Most public, private, and nonprofit boards refresh just once a year. If no one's stepping down or the board isn't adding seats, it’s a waiting game.

• The odds are tight. Only about 4,700 new directors are appointed annually to U.S. public company boards. Since directors are chosen on a current board skill gap rather than luck, your chances of winning Powerball or getting struck by lightning are way better than getting a public board seat. Directors have long-standing and deep relationships with lots of highly qualified people.

• Who’s already at the table? If you’re a marketing rockstar and the board already has two marketing gurus, tough luck. If the board’s audit committee chair is the only one being refreshed and you’re not a qualified financial expert under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, opt for the Powerball ticket. If a private equity firm is acquiring a peanut factory…you get it.

  

• Can I help you? How about now. Ironically, the help board directors often want is for you to identify for them for an open additional board seat. Or solve their board’s immediate business problem. Do you show up having researched them, their companies, and their boards, and deliver on the call?

So, should I give up? Not at all.

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The Secret: The “Work” in NetWORK

The fastest, most reliable path to a board seat? Work—with people.

֎ People who’ve worked (not networked) with you will advocate for you.

It’s not the people you’ve networked with, but the ones you’ve worked with and built something with who’ll think of you. They’ve seen you in action—speaking up and asking tough questions even when uncomfortable or unpopular, leveraging opportunities, leading teams, impacting lives, disagreeing and collaborating constructively, analyzing markets, handling crises, making tough decisions, driving business success and growth. They will put their reputation on the line with confidence in your integrity, leadership style, and impact.

Ask: Which board directors have I worked with? What did I build with them?

֎ Board directors trust their work circles.

Why do Fortune 1000 CEOs and CFOs get asked to join several boards? Because they’ve worked together to lead and build success with people who are on boards, in companies, or through partnerships. They might have hired the big five board/C-suite recruiters to fill executive roles. Why are regional bank boards loaded with local small business owners? Because those SBOs worked with the bank to enrich the local community.

Ask: Which businesses have I invested in?

֎ Board work is real work.

Forget the idea of a part-time consulting or retirement gig. Boards deal with crises, oversight, strategy, and reputational risk, with fiduciary responsibility to drop everything else when necessary. If your primary motivation is a working-less lifestyle transition, would other directors choose you first to work with?

Ask: Are you serving time on nonprofit or advisory boards? 

֎ Join a board group? Great. Now roll up your sleeves.

Professional board organizations can be valuable—but not if you’re mainly an attendee and contact collector. Members who are remembered are the ones who contribute (work) toward the mission and success of the club: joining working committees, leading initiatives, driving outcomes.

Ask:  Are you paying dues and collecting contacts—or doing the work?

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Here's Where the Magic Happens

A plethora of board seats (especially in private equity, family-owned, ESOP, small private, and nonprofit organizations) open up each year—under the radar. These boards are looking for directors who will work to solve a specific timely (but ongoing) challenge or jump on an immediate opportunity.

First steps:

• How do you identify a company’s AND board’s immediate, ongoing “use case” need? The skill gap they seek isn’t AI, marketing, finance, strategy, or tech. It’s addressing the current business use case. It’s at the top of their agenda. Your message is about that objective, not your bio.

• How can you identify the board’s ability and urgency to add a board director to solve that, and who is responsible for adding that director.

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From Networking to Directing, for Trailblazers

At Board Search Secrets, we help you stop chasing connections and start board directing.

• Have great boards find you

• Know which companies need you now

• Where the hidden empty board seats are

• How and when to address a board’s urgent, ongoing use case, and to whom

• What to stop doing, and what to start doing more

Stop networking and wasting time on ineffective tactics. Start board directing.

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Coming soon:

Red Flag Alerts: Instant Reject Secrets from a Board Search Recruiter.