I recently joined BDO’s National Managing Principal for Corporate Governance, Amy Rojik, on her podcast, BDO in the Boardroom, to talk about why aspiring board directors and candidates don’t land a seat at the table. And it’s rarely a credentials problem. Most board candidates lose months (or even years) to three strategy mistakes that are completely avoidable once you know what to look for.
Here are the three shifts I walk candidates through to go from a board candidate to board-appointed.
Stop Casting a Wide Net
If your answer to “what kind of board interests you” starts with “I have 30 years of diverse experience, so I can help almost any company,” you have a targeting problem.
Decades of experience and a C-suite title are table stakes in the board market. You are one of many. The candidates who move fastest have already narrowed their focus, including industry, company size, ownership structure (public, PE-backed, family-owned, etc), and more.
Getting this specific is often the hardest part for aspiring board directors because they don’t want to miss out on opportunities. But this step is essential to focus your value rather than diluting it across every company that might, theoretically, want you.
Shift the Focus from Operational Skills to Governance Acumen
Once your target market is clear, the next step is understanding what that market is actually wrestling with right now from a GOVERNANCE perspective: regulatory pressure, workforce transformation challenges, cybersecurity, AI oversight, market shifts, and whatever else is keeping their leadership up at night.
Without this step, it’s impossible to articulate how your background positions you to help a board navigate those specific challenges. Skip the operational highlight reel. “I build great teams” is a resume line, not a board pitch. Boards want oversight, fiduciary responsibility, big picture governance, not another set of hands to do the work.
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Reframe “Networking” to Relationship Building
I hear this from candidates constantly: “I’m having five networking meetings a week, but nothing is converting into a board seat.” Volume is not the answer. Strategic relationships are.
Amy Rojik shared that networking can be difficult for many people, but shifting the focus from gaining contacts to building relationships makes it much easier to connect with people.
Set your relationship-building strategy by asking yourself who actually needs to know you and what rooms they are already in. And when you do connect, come with a clear, memorable ask. Something like: “I’m a [your expertise] executive who serves boards at [target companies] facing [specific challenges].” That one sentence does more work than an hour of small talk, because it gives people something they can repeat on your behalf.
Board seats are rarely filled through applications. They’re filled through referrals, from board chairs, CEOs, and investor networks who already understand exactly what you bring to the table. Being referable starts with clarity, not more networking events.
Listen to our full episode here.
Turning Insights into Action
Are you ready to land your seat at the table? Our team can launch your board career faster by building your market positioning, crafting your board resume and bio, optimizing your LinkedIn profile, developing your search strategy, and preparing you for board-level interviews.