When I mention a board of directors, your first reaction might be, hey this is just a little hip pocket company. Isn’t a board of directors sort of premature? Not at all. Directors are your first and most immediate requirement. You wouldn't think of playing a baseball game, and fielding every position with no other players with no other players than yourself until about the fourth inning. So why would you begin your company with yourself being the one and only expert filling every position of responsibility.
You may think of your enterprise as simple and uncomplicated, but if you're preparing for a Quantum Leap into the big leagues, you've got to fill all the positions on the field now! Before the game starts. (…)
The best source of directors is recently retired CEOs and other top executives of local, regional and even national companies. And they're not inaccessible. As with finding a suitable mentor, pick up the phone and call. Explain your situation and the direction in which you're moving, and how you have some fantastic ideas on consolidating a cottage industry or whatever your goal may be. Express your desire to have the individual add his or her knowledge, experience and prestige to your company. You'll be surprised at how receptive even high profile people can be. One of my partners discovered that e-mail is the most effective way to get their attention. (…)
These senior individuals are rich with experience and wisdom you can call on, they're probably frustrated because nobody asks them for their opinion anymore - and they've got time, between golf games - to give you whatever time and attention you need. And they're not likely to try to interfere with how to run your business.
One question many senior and retired people ask is, 'How can I contribute? I wouldn’t want to be involved if I couldn’t contribute something.’ It's very disanning to have a former CEO of a Fortune 1000 firm ask you if you think he can "contribute" to the success of your company! So just flip it around. 'Sir, I would look to you for recommendations on others we might consider for director positions.’ (…)
Your board ideally should include a financial person, an accounting specialist, and one or two other individuals who have already achieved what you're trying to achieve in your field of endeavor, particularly in growing a company geometrically through acquisition. Your accounting expert might be a former regional managing partner of a Big Four accounting firm. Your financial-based director might be a retired investment banker.
All these people, no more that four or five in number, will inevitably "contribute" contacts, tips and ideas you'd have never dreamed of otherwise. They are the core from which you will now proceed to build an aggressive, acquisition-hungry corporation.
By the way, your board must be what I call "lawsuit-aware". Although it may go without saying, at some point mention it to them anyway for the record: you accept litigation as a part of exponential growth. You regard litigation as a legitimate business tool (and if you don't you should). If the idea of filing suit makes you uneasy, and the thought of getting sued frightens you away from acting in the best interests of your company, stop reading here and go get a good romance novel.
As for compensation, don't even bring it up the first or second time you and your prospective directors talk. Whatever you may offer is table scraps compared to the wealth they've accumulated after 30 years of business leadership. Eventually, almost as an afterthought, mention you'd like to offer each director 2% to 5% of your company, depending on the extent of their time and participation involved. Offer a few points more to your board chairman, based on the projected depth of his involvement. Then the issue of compensation is covered.
Remember that you assemble your board of directors before you begin your search for outside accounting and legal professionals.
Sayfa 67Kitabı okudu
·
71 views
Yorum yapabilmeniz için giriş yapmanız gerekmektedir.