One of the most valuable things you can do to gain a board appointment is to simply start telling people you are looking for one. But, imagine you are at a professional event, watching the kids play sports or at a party; you get talking to someone, and they ask you what you do. What do you say?
Like many, you will likely gravitate to your executive experience, and the conversation will revolve around this topic. However, if you aspire to gain a board appointment, then this must change. This is surprisingly easy and goes a long way to access the vast number of roles that will never be advertised but instead are filled informally.
So, what does the Fundamental Attribution Error have to do with your board search?
It is the Fundamental Attribution Error. Malcolm Gladwell writes about this in his bestselling book, Tipping Point. He writes that the Fundamental Attribution Error stems from the fact that people…
‘instinctively want to explain the world around them in terms of people’s essential attributes.’
In other words, people do not take into account the setting, culture or external influences when meeting and remembering people. Rather, they focus on immediately graspable facts. That means that ignorant of context, people will ‘peg’ (brand) you in one way or another and are unlikely to hold differing views simultaneously.
It is up to you to frame the way people peg you
You need to come to terms with the fact that you are going to get ‘pegged’ when talking to people who don’t really know you. You also need to understand that these sorts of people (called weak ties) lead to ~50% of all board appointments. They are incredibly valuable.
Whether it be meeting someone for the first time or a close friend, family member or colleague, it is up to you as to how you are defined and remembered. Ask yourself how people you meet, or those who know you, actually know you. How would they recall you to others? Are you more likely to be branded by a relationship (father, mother, sister, or brother), by an executive role (accountant, lawyer, busy executive, or retiree), or even by an extra-professional activity like sport or charity work rather than an aspiring board director? If it is the former and you want a board role, then you are doing yourself a massive disservice. As such, if you don’t want to miss out on board opportunities, then others’ perspectives of you need to change.
It’s easy to change people’s perception of you
Start by simply telling people about your board aspirations. That means moving away from framing yourself as an executive, friend, colleague or, even worse, someone who appears to believe that they can do anything for anyone. Instead, make it easy for them to make the right assumptions by telling them that you are developing a board career or building a board portfolio.
For example, if you meet someone for the first time, they say, ‘Nice to meet you. What do you do?’ Instead of describing your day’s joy, you could say…‘I am the (title) at (company name) and am also building a board career. ‘
If you do this, I can almost guarantee people will peg you the way you want them to. Equally, the conversation is more likely to head in a direction that will open up board opportunities for you.
To manage these conversations successfully, you need to also be ready for two subsequent questions. ‘What boards are you interested in?’ and ‘What companies would you like to be on the board of? As such, it is essential that you are prepared to respond with your board targets and are clear about your value at board level. In doing so, they are going to build confidence in you and give them more possibilities to offer assistance or advice… all because you are being specific and they are clear about how to peg you.
In summary
First impressions count, and those you meet rarely or infrequently will be limited by what they commit to memory about you. Equally, they are often the most important people to impress in your board search. So it is critical that you don’t give them the opportunity to make false assumptions or forget you.
That means you must tell people you meet about your board aspirations. If you don’t, it is very unlikely that you will be ‘pegged’ as a non-executive, and I promise that you will miss out on one of the 80%+ of board vacancies that are filled informally every year.
Understanding the Fundamental Attribution Error’s potential impact on the success of your board search is crucial. It should transform the way you frame yourself – in your conversations, your NED CV, your application documents and, of course, in a board interview.
If you want a hand getting a board appointment, reach out for a conversation.
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About the Author
David Schwarz is CEO & Founder of Board Direction – Australia’s leading board advertising and non-executive career support firm. He has over a decade of experience of putting people on boards as an international headhunter and a non-executive recruiter and has interviewed over one thousand non-executives and placed hundreds into some of the most significant public, private and NFP roles in the world
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