Modern Roadmaps to the Boardroom

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Do you spend quality, quiet time thinking about how to prepare yourself for that senior management or boardroom opportunity? Do you understand that you cannot wait for that opportunity, and then take a “magic pill” that qualifies you as a strong candidate?

C-level and boardroom opportunities tend to be rare and offered to only the most worthy and qualified professionals. But, how do aspiring executives properly prepare a strong foundation to be viewed as a perfect candidate?

Numerous Variables Involved in Career Advancement

There is no “one size fits all” boardroom preparation checklist. Your background preparation varies with your most talented skill set, your industry, geographical area, state of the economy and the market, and a bit of luck (“timing is everything”).

No amount of intelligent speculation or crystal ball gazing will pinpoint upcoming C-level or boardroom opportunities. Authors Boris Groysberg, L. Kevin Kelly and Bryan MacDonald discussed this issue in their article, “The New Path to the C-Suite,” (Harvard Business Review, 2011)

Monitoring data compiled by search firm, Heidrick & Struggles, compiled during the past decade, the authors discovered some interesting findings. There are some apparent solid indicators regarding the way C-level and boardroom positions are evolving.

Once in the C-Suite and Boardroom, One Skill Dominates All

Regardless of your technical, operational, financial, or functional specialty, the most important skill needed to perform well at the executive management level is leadership. Through all the studies, research and data assembly, this requirement consistently stood above all others.

The events of the past decade, including the global economic recession, has spurred a change in executive management responsibilities and changed the classic roadmap to the boardroom. From CIO to CFO to CEO, all C-level and boardroom occupants must also have risk management skill and employ global, big picture vision.

These requirements can prove challenging for even top level director and division-leading management veterans. Traditional senior managers envisioned career advancement to the boardroom as a direct function of their specialty. Concentrating exclusively on the needs of their department/division, these professionals spent little time analyzing company-wide risk management or developing global strategies for the organization.

The Changing Roadmap to the Boardroom

C-level candidates are now expected to be outstanding specialists and more outstanding corporate leaders. Most traditional executive management positions have morphed into more complete and esoteric jobs.

For example, most Chief Marketing and Sales Officers operated in stratified, sometimes parallel universes. Even within their own divisions, the marketing and sales departments often worked at cross purposes. Seldom did the CMSO report directly to the CEO. Although technically a member of the C-level suite, this executive management position rarely had fine-tuned, cooperative and integrated sales and marketing teams.

Enter the importance of branding and the creation of the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). As the definitions of marketing and sales continue to overlap, the responsibilities of the senior professional in charge of these functions has changed.

As the CCO supplants the former CMSO, the position offers a single contact point for all commercial operations, including innovation, product development, and, of course, marketing and sales. This boardroom invitee is responsible for managing all sales points, whether digital or brick and mortar.

The leadership quality is preeminent. However, the CCO must also have talent in the risk management area, as marketing and sales strategies always include some element of risk. The ability to see, understand and decipher the way the marketing/sales strategies integrate into the entire company vision.

This rather dramatic change in focus affects all executive management positions. For instance, CFOs are no longer called “bean counters.” Instead of just reporting results of operations and managing regulatory issues, CFOs are expected to deliver meaningful input on risk management situations, identifying new capital market opportunities and participate in company strategy development.

Candidates for senior level career advancement must first be strong leaders. They also must adopt a global mindset, develop budget systems, measure performance, and partner with all other operating divisions to improve branding and operations efficiency. These professionals are still responsible for their specialties and divisions, at times overloading their schedules.

However, this is the contemporary roadmap to the boardroom. Those who aspire to reach this level should start now to build the diverse qualifications needed to reach this goal. Like preparing for the “big game,” professionals should develop a winning action plan, stick to it and be prepared to be ready when that coveted boardroom opportunity appears.

Source:
http://hbr.org/2011/03/the-new-path-to-the-c-suite/ar/1