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How to Find an Independent Director

Start with “What do we need?” – not “Who do we know?”

The appointment of an independent board director can increase cognitive diversity, bringing new experience and perspective to the boardroom.

“I've experienced it myself,” shares Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “A more diverse BOD can be tough sometimes (everyone doesn't always agree), but ultimately helps you see around corners and analyze problems differently.” 

Yet most boards seek candidates from their existing networks, limiting the talent pool to those with whom they are already connected. 

These three steps will help you find independent directors with the right expertise to help your company on its next phase of growth.

Conduct a gap assessment.

Evaluate your existing board using this free board matrix. First, identify the areas of expertise most valuable in your boardroom over the next stage of growth. Then characterize current board members according to their particular strengths, demographics and current or potential committee assignments. Note that this approach doesn’t focus on titles, like CEO, which can overlook people with significant relevant experience, such as business unit leaders or P&L owners within large corporations.

Identify desired competencies.

The board gap analysis should reveal specific areas which could be enhanced through a strategic independent appointment. These areas are likely a mix of functional expertise, industry experience, and knowledge of specific customer segments and/or markets. Additionally ideal candidates will have scaled businesses of similar size and growth opportunity. Getting crisp on the relative prioritization of these characteristics – sorting must-haves versus nice-to-haves – will be helpful in evaluating candidates.

Look outside your network.

When seeking the best candidates for your board, don’t overlook those outside your board’s network. While the business world can feel small, you would be surprised at the talent that resides beyond the reaches of those you already know. Him For Her provides the easiest, most frictionless way to meet outstanding board candidates. A 501c3 dedicated to building diverse boards, Him For Her curates candidates from our referral-only talent network and makes introductions free of charge. One of our private-equity partners recounted, after a recent board search, "Once again, Him For Her did an absolutely amazing job in finding candidates for us. In the words of one of the directors, ‘We could have searched indefinitely and we may not have found a candidate as strong.’”