Tips for Executives Looking to Serve on Boards

A new book by Jim Brown entitled The Imperfect Board Member is getting raves from a variety of reviewers, including Ken Blanchard (co-author of the classic, The One-Minute Manager). The book talks about the principles of effective governance in our current business environment, where Sarbanes-Oxley has made it necessary for boards to become more active. Brown describes 7 keys to effective boardroom leadership:

DIRECT the organization in the best interests of its owners
PROTECT the interests of the organization's owners
RESPECT the owners by listening, communicating, and understanding their interests
REFLECT on the organization's performance
SELECT talented people to lead the organization as Officers and Directors
EXPECT top performance from each director
INSPECT the CEO's performance

Many of my executive resume clients serve on boards as part of their employment. (As an executive still actively engaged in corporate employment, serving on boards can add greatly to your reputation and credibility, and enrich your experience.) Others have retired from active employment and seek to occupy their time with board service.

For executives in either of these categories, I recommend taking a look at this book, since it appears it would be helpful in your quest to be a highly effective, productive, and sought-after board member. I checked on Amazon.com, and they do carry it, at an excellent price.

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CEOs: VC-backed Tech Firm Sector on Road to Recovery

Business Week's CEO Guide to the Tech-Job Outlook raises hopes for an industry turnaround by 2010, with senior executives reporting that hiring at small, VC-funded firms is increasing.

According to the article, these are the 10 best and 10 worst cities for salaries in the Tech Sector (averaged across at least 15 reports from each company surveyed).

BEST CITIES: (1 being the highest average salary)
1 San Jose
2 San Francisco
3 Seattle
4 San Diego
5 New York City
6 Washington, DC
7 Boston
8 Raleigh
9 Los Angeles
10 Austin

WORST CITIES: (1 being the lowest average salary)
1 Kansas City
2 Cleveland
3 Pittsburgh
4 Madison (WI)
5 Orlando
6 St. Louis
7 Columbus
8 Cincinnati
9 Minneapolis
10 Philadelphia

This has been the worst tech sector recession since the dot.com bubble burst. Among the first fields to begin job recovery are cloud computing, computer security, business analytics, and IT services for government and health care. CEOs indicate that they are gradually and carefully lifting hiring freezes in an effort to bring in the best-of-the-best employees before the economy recovers and the competition for talent heats up.

A piece of good news is that after elimination of more than 118,000 tech jobs in the first half of 2009 (the highest number in 7 years), "two-thirds of senior technology executives recently surveyed by audit, tax, and advisory firm KPMG said they thought their industry would fully recover from the current economic crisis ahead of the overall U.S. economy."

After a long and dismal dry spell, this may be the time for technology executives to polish up their executive resumes and begin testing the waters.

Read the full article at: http://tinyurl.com/lsm5kr. You can also view a slide show with details about Glassdoor's salary survey of more than 28,000 companies.

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Should an Executive Write His or Her Own Resume?

I wrote the following as part of a Career Thought Leaders Consortium discussion that is ongoing regarding "Can You/Must You Write Your Own Resume." Hopefully my observations will provide some perspective on the subject for any of you wrestling with whether to write your own executive resume or delegate that process to a professional.


Consider the scenario of a brilliant inventor who has developed a fantastic, groundbreaking product that will change the world as we know it. He is also a savvy businessman, and has built a top-notch team around him to ensure efficient and timely production and delivery of the product, unparalleled customer service, and strong financial management. However, despite the fact he has no specialized marketing training or aptitude for writing marketing copy, he decides to develop all the marketing literature himself. He figures he knows best the features and advantages of his product and the difference it can make to those who buy it, and wants to pinch a few pennies. The marketing initiative falls completely flat, no one buys the product, and the company fails.

This situation is closely analogous to that of a high-caliber job candidate who thinks or has been told that "You can and must write your own resume." Even a casual observer could tell you that the man with the groundbreaking product in the above scenario was a fool to represent himself and his product to the market, and that he was "penny-wise and pound foolish." Anyone who has reached management or executive level knows that to be effective you must identify experts in key areas and delegate responsibility to them. Certainly a wise executive provides input and remains involved with the various functional areas of the organization, but does not personally execute.

A quality marketing department would have worked extensively gathering market intelligence and input from all departments regarding this man's groundbreaking product, ensuring production of powerful and compelling marketing copy. Any reputable and truly professional resume writer will work in a similar fashion, involving a client substantially in the information-gathering process and drawing out those aspects of his or her experience, education, management style, and achievements that distinguish this "product" from the competition. The candidate has engaged in extensive introspection and reflection regarding his or her past experiences and potential value in the marketplace, while at the same time ensuring that those things learned are reflected powerfully and articulately on paper.

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Should I Be Using Twitter in My Executive Job Search?

If you're not a "Tweeple" yet (someone who posts "tweets" on Twitter.com), you may wish consider becoming one. As you probably know, Twitter is one of the many social networking tools available online today (examples of other major sites that are relevant for executive job search are LinkedIn and Facebook).

Twitter was designed initially for personal socializing and a stream-of-consciousness type of communication based on the question "What are you doing?" However, it has quickly evolved far beyond that to become a place where professionals and business people "tweet" advice, opinions, and links to resources they have found on the web. Don't expect to post your executive resume there; you will need to show just how succinct you can be by posting a profile that is limited to just 160 characters. That's right, 160 CHARACTERS, not WORDS. And your posts will be even shorter--a maximum of 140 characters.

A major use for Twitter that has emerged is in job search. As a member, you will be able to "follow" numerous people who post valuable advice, including executive resume writers, coaches, and other careers professionals, recruiters, and other job seekers. There is even a Twitter job board.

Since recruiters DO search Twitter for potential candidates, an emerging Twitter job search strategy is to "pitch" yourself with a brief description of the skills you bring to the table and the kind of job you are seeking, to which you add what are called "hash tags" that will ensure your post is read by all who monitor or search those hash tags. Examples of hash tags are "#jobangels" (you'll get responses from this organization with advice, job leads, etc.), and #jobseeker, #ITjobs, #jobs, #careers, etc.

When using this strategy, be sure that your post is specific (not just "Help me! I need a job!), and that you spell out the important keywords and phrases in your post to ensure they are found in a search (e.g., "business development" instead of "bus.dev."). Here's one I found with a quick search on #jobseeker:

"Business Systems Analyst in Central FL (Orlando Area) w/10 yrs of IT, requirements, process & svc delivery exp. #jobangels #job #jobseeker"

As you build your "following" and "followers" lists, it can become a bit unwieldy to monitor them with the basic Twitter interface. Many have found it helpful to use third party apps such as Tweetdeck to make the process more efficient and manageable.

To fully leverage the advantages of social networking sites, work to drive connections among them. When you post to Twitter, occasionally include a link to your most recent blog entry (You DO have a blog, don't you?), work in a link to your LinkedIn profile or website, or to articles you may have published or that have mentioned you on the Web.

At this point in time, it seems that Twitter may be most effective as a direct job search tool for entry level to mid-management candidates. However, by creating a name for yourself as a subject matter expert with a substantial following, the indirect benefits to your executive career and job search could be substantial. I encourage you to join Twitter and see what it's all about. You can follow me at LSmithResumePro.

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