Board

Corporate Board Members: Myths vs. Facts

Print or Download Boards of directors are elected by the company’s shareholders to supervise their company’s key officers. As such, for many, becoming a corporate director exemplifies a pinnacle career accomplishment. At least lately, however, the reality of being a corporate director varies considerable with its long-standing perceptions. The perception of a corporate director… More

100 Executive Job Descriptions

Print or Save in PDF. “What’s in a name?” William Shakespeare famously asked in Romeo and Juliet. In today’s corporations, the more suitable question might be: “What’s in an executive job title?” The answer: Quite a lot. This document describes in a few words the 100 most popular executive jobs that we have found at the… More

Five Tips for Designing an Executive Team

Large and fast-growing companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Netflix have invented new organizations and new ways of doing business. Their organizational structures and new approaches to business are reflected in the executive business titles that collectively define their organizational structures. These same titles are also promulgating within the 75,000+ company organizational charts that we… More

Charting a Path to the Boardroom

By Yo-Jud Cheng Doctoral Student at Harvard Business School, and Boris Groysberg Professor at Harvard Business School. Print or Download Board directorships provide an intellectual challenge for directors and an opportunity to not only share expertise but to also gain new insights. For many high-potential executives, a board directorship marks the next frontier of career advancement… More

Four Board Challenges Unveiled in Harvard Research Survey

How can boards function more effectively? And what role can board members play in supporting the strategic objectives of the firms they oversee? Harvard Business School Professor Boris Groysberg and doctoral student Jocelin Yo-Jud Cheng along several research partners (listed below) are conducting a survey that will help us answer these very questions. Their preliminary analyses… More

Executive Search Firms vs. Inside Recruiters

One of the hottest ongoing debates in the field of executive recruiting is whether recruiting efforts are better handled by inside recruiters or whether it’s preferable to outsource the function to executive search firms, which maintain singular focus and expertise on the recruiting function. The survey concludes that executive search firms are favored by the… More

Five Steps to Finding and Landing Non-Profit Board Opportunities

In the United States alone, there are 1.5 million non-profit organizations, and most of them have this one thing in common: They seek and need the input of competent board of directors’ members to help manage, oversee and guide their efforts. While not all non-profit organizations maintain governing boards, most do. But how can a… More

Six Steps to Landing a Corporate Board of Directors Affiliation

Prior to the 2002 passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that tightened the finance and governance regulations of U.S.-based public companies, service on a publicly-traded company’s board of directors was globally considered by some to be something of a cushy professional affiliation. Board members were compensated well and usually met only four times annually (sometimes… More