In 2008, I sat at the back of the Institute boardroom, clutching my notebook like a talisman. I wasn’t a board member yet. I was just “Member, Member Services Committee,” but you could not have convinced me otherwise.
Every meeting was a masterclass. Every whisper from the Committee Chairman was a lesson in agenda control. Every casual joke from the Institute’s CEO / Secretary was a calculated move to steer decisions without raising alarms.
I learned something most people never figure out until it’s too late: Boardroom success is not about having a seat. It’s about having a spine.
You don’t stumble into the boardroom. Some are born into it, lucky sons and daughters of tycoons, political juggernauts, or blue-blooded families whose Christmas lunches resemble AGMs. Good for them. Clap for them. But the real respect? It’s earned. When you build your way to the boardroom, no one can bully you out of it.
So, how do you do it?
First, strategic networking. And no, I don’t mean trading business cards like cheap candy at a cocktail. I mean, embedding yourself in serious circles. Where the conversations aren’t about who wore what, but about who governs what. Join a professional body. Show up for everything.
Raise your hand for the work no one wants. Draft minutes. Organize AGMS. Lead sub-committees. You are there to build your boardroom muscle when no one is watching. Start with your professional body. Local Church or Mosque. Lead at your school, university, or any space you are. Just raise your hand and serve.
My first leadership exposure, serving on a Member Services Committee, taught me the real game. I realized that the CEO and senior managers would always have casual chats before meetings and informal rehearsals. They would “float” ideas softly in corridors to gauge reactions before tabling anything officially. Rookie me thought decisions happened at the table. Veteran me laughs at that. The boardroom is 80% pre-meeting politics, 20% formal resolutions. If you fail to understand the game, you will.
Second, start where you are. Today’s religious institution committee is tomorrow’s audit committee appointment. Too many young professionals wait for the “perfect” board opportunity. Big mistake. Take what you can get, treat it like the Presidential Cabinet, and the bigger roles will chase you.
And here’s the surprise: today, I reject board appointments and refer my friends instead. Not because I’m too good. But because I have the scars to know the weight of that seat. If you have no time to prepare, no intention to understand the business deeply, you are a liability, not a leader. I now only accept roles I am deeply passionate about.
Board leadership is not a title. It’s stewardship. If you waste it, you betray the very system that made you.
From many years of sitting on boards, serving on committees, and training board members (since 2010, I have engaged with an average of two boards monthly as a trainer, strategist, and advisor), I can confidently say this: the boardroom demands the very best of you.
If you want a board role, stop asking “how do I get appointed?” and start asking “how do I serve today without a title?”
A practical way to solve it
a) is to join your professional body. Volunteer.
b) Build a track record of integrity and results where you are — people watch.
c) Always prepare more than everyone else. Know the organization’s Constitution, AGM minutes, and strategy inside out before your first meeting.
You can either be “invited to the board” or “installed into the boardroom” because you made yourself unignitable. Choose wisely
Leadership tool for boardroom mastery
The 3-S Move to Win
a) Silence –– Speak little. Listen big. Let people reveal themselves.
b) Substance– When you talk, bring gold, not gossip.
c) Signals –– Read body language, coffee break alliances, and side jokes. What’s said casually reveals the real agenda.
The day you master these, you no longer “attend” board meetings — you control them.
If you are serious about getting to the board and adding value (not being another empty suit), grab my book “7 Tools to Get to the Board and Add Value”. It’s not motivational fluff. It’s war strategies. Because the boardroom is no place for amateurs.
You want in? Play to win.
In my next post, I will share three cases that demonstrate boardroom dynamics.
I remain, Mr Strategy.
