Recruiting the Younger Director

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Directors & Boards – Recruiting the younger director

Boardrooms have long been the domain of executives in their 50s, 60s and even 70s, but many boards are also electing directors in their early 30s — often younger entrepreneurs — as various industries confront digital transformation. With fierce competition for younger directors, Kim Van Der Zon, leader of Egon Zehnder’s U.S. Board Practice, writes in Directors & Boards about the five practices for ensuring that boards pursue the right candidates and that these new directors fulfill their boardroom potential. In recruiting candidates, Kim advises that boards start the recruiting process early, screen candidates carefully for cultural fit and set realistic expectations. While younger directors “will offer important perspectives on a range of issues, they can’t be expected to have every answer to the range of transformation issues the company is facing — or to make up for critical capability gaps on the management team,” she writes. Once nominating committees identify candidates, they should be prepared to sell the opportunity, articulating why it is compelling, and have a solid onboarding process for smoothly transitioning the new director onto the board.

Full story: Recruiting the Younger Director, by Kim Van Der Zon (Directors & Boards, Quarter 1 2015)