Intentional Growth

How to Build a Board of Directors

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Today we are talking to Jim Zuehlke, who will be speaking about a board of directors: why they’re important, how to build one, how to compensate them, and how to upgrade the talent of your current board of directors. Jim has tons of experience as a builder of a boards of directors. Although many perceive a board of directors or board of advisors to be solely for extremely profitable companies, the truth is that any company can benefit. Today’s episode is a must-listen for anyone who wants to take their company to the next level.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:
  • Jim’s background and how he got into his business, as well as how he got into building and developing boards of directors.
  • What Jim asked candidates for boards of directors and what many of them have in common.
  • The difference between a board of directors and a board of advisors and why the former is important.
  • Where to start in forming a board. Jim lays out the steps to follow as well as some of the common mistakes companies make.
  • Your obligation in compensating your board of directors.
  • The factors that make a successful operating board and why it’s helpful to compare it to marriage, as well as balancing out the skillsets of the people involved.
  • How to know that you’re not where you should be with your board of directors as well as tips on how to make changes.
  • Jim’s recruitment process for someone who doesn’t have a board already.
  • The typical set of subject pillars that Jim uses as he blends groups of people together, as well as Jim’s thoughts on diversity on boards and how that will change in the next decade or so
    • How to Build a Board of Directors Takeaways:
    1. Jim gave a very clear definition of a board of directors as well as how their role differs from those of a board of advisors and from a CEO’s peer advisory group.
    2. If you have a family business or a business with a crucial CEO, having a board of directors to be the voice of reason can eliminate some of the politics that goes along with having multiple invested interests.
    3. It’s important to know the qualities of a great board member and Jim gave us some excellent qualities to look for when searching for the expertise a company needs.

      4.  

      Links and Resources:

      Cardinal Board Services

      Principles

      About Jim Zuehlke:

      Jim’s company, Cardinal Board Services, is passionate about maximizing the effectiveness our clients boards. Whether it be a Board of Directors or the Board of Advisors, they help organizations with board formation, bylaw creation, recruitment & hiring of directors as well as facilitating the initial board meetings.

      His clients range in size from $30M to over $1B companies from a variety of industries including manufacturing, construction, technology, CPG, wholesale apparel and medical. Our clients are mostly private companies seeking to grow their business, transition to a new generation or bring in outside management.

      Full Transcription:

      Ryan:               Welcome back to the Life After Business podcast. Today’s guest name is Jim Zuehlke. Jim is on the show today to talk about how to build a board of directors, why a board of directors is important, the functions that the board of directors plas, actually how to strategically build them with the different roles and experiences, and then what happens if you need to upgrade your talent of your board if you already have a board of directors set up. Jim has a ton of experience to be able to speak to this because he started his company, Cardinal Ma

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