A Seat at the Table: Surviving and Thriving on your First Corporate Board

The courtship is finally over. After decades of advancing your career, years stewarding nonprofits, months of matchmaking, and more networking than you can count, you have finally landed your first seat on a corporate board of directors. The Board has done its due diligence. Now, it's up to you to prove them right. 

Receiving your first corporate board appointment can feel like being invited to the first holiday dinner with your in-laws. You're excited to have a seat at the table — but understandably anxious about what comes next. As the new face in the boardroom, how you "show up" in initial meetings can impact your ability to add value as a corporate director. 

Below are some lessons I've learned from my experience, both serving on boards and working closely with them in the C-suite. 

Don’t save first impressions for the last minute.

Meeting the new family for a holiday dinner doesn't start when you sit at the table. It begins when you respond to the invitation. Understand the dynamics before you're in the proverbial hot seat. Similarly, when you join a new board of directors, you're better off learning the lay of the land and meeting the players involved before you pull up a chair. Some boards have thorough onboarding processes. But often, the approach is haphazard. Here are a few DIY onboarding survival skills (caveat: be transparent with the CEO or General Counsel (GC) before you reach out to other management directly):

• Get the inside scoop. Just as families often wait to let their guard down, corporations have a wealth of insider materials that provide deeper insight than publicly available governance documents and annual filings. Review the past year's board books (or at least the minutes) to get a sense of the quarterly discussion cadence. Also, request copies of key strategy documents and major initiative launch materials to get up to speed on the most critical topics.
• Master the language. Take a deep dive into the financial package and related KPI scorecards to ensure you understand how to navigate standard reports. Familiarize yourself with company acronyms and jargon so you can follow the discussion. Org charts and locations of essential facilities are often critical "cheat sheets," as unfamiliar names can quickly trip you up.
• Meet with key players ahead of time. Once you feel equipped to ask informed questions, set up 30-minute in-person or virtual meetings with critical company senior management and any board members you did not meet in interviews. Management discussions help clarify and fill in contextual gaps in readings. Tenured directors can also be a valuable source of company history. Familiarity with your fellow directors is a critical first step in building trust and mutual respect in the boardroom. Covid's onset compromised that in one of my boards. Months later, I initiated "get to know you" calls that paid huge dividends. Better late than never.

Don't show up empty-handed or empty-headed.

Whether at a personal gathering or a corporate meeting, the antidote for self-doubt is preparation. For a dinner invitation, that could mean bringing a bottle of wine or your grandmother's apple pie. For a quarterly board meeting, come equipped with a carefully curated list of insightful questions. 

Most corporate boards use one of the leading online board portals like Diligent or Nasdaq's Boardvantage as a secure repository. While this makes access easy, it can also enable eleventh-hour updates or additions to required readings. Be sure to block the weekend before your first meeting, as this may be the only time you have to review the complete set of materials (often hundreds of pages).

• Scope meeting agendas and plot a work plan. Be sure to note page counts as you budget your time but differentiate between core readings and supplemental materials that only need skimming. Don't try to read everything in a single pass. Ideally, divide reading across multiple days or budget activity breaks between sections to clear your mind. (My piano often gets a workout between chapters.)  
• Develop your reading process. Read assigned committee readings first, as these are typically fast-paced working sessions where you must weigh in on crucial decisions. For the primary board materials, I generally make two passes. The first is a page-by-page read of each section, making notes of issues. Then, I step away from the details and review the big-picture messages. Knowing what's most important helps focus where to dig in and triangulate against personal experience, peer companies, or broader industry or macro-economic trends to help formulate insightful questions.
• Check-in with your primary board contact. Some organizations assign a formal "board buddy" for questions and early feedback. Tap them for simple factual, cultural (e.g., dress code), or logistical questions (e.g., safe flight times). The Nominating & Governance (N&G) Chair or GC are usually safe bets if there is no formal assignment. But reach out to whichever director struck you as most approachable. I joined my first public Board alongside an experienced board member who became my best sounding board in our inaugural year. 

Arrive early and come ready to read the room.  

It's essential to begin any new relationship on the right foot. You'd never show up late for your mother-in-law's big meal. Board meetings are no exception: they start on time, if not early. Don't be the last to arrive. Consider flying in early to take potential travel delays out of the equation. 

Actual meeting conduct will vary with the company's culture and the Chair's style. Most established boards begin with committee meetings, transition to a full board meeting in the afternoon, and group dinner that evening. Day two typically consists of a full board morning session, adjourning early afternoon to enable travel home.

• Watch for seating cues. Board Chairs, like family matriarchs or patriarchs, tend to sit at either the head of the table or in the center on one side. Management, like distant cousins, tends to sit away from the main table or at whatever seats are considered less desirable. Err on "fitting in" for your first meeting and take a seat accordingly. Human behavior means that most sit in the same chairs on day two. The seating resets by the next quarterly meeting.
• Assess the Chair's style. The Chair sets the tone for meeting conduct. The best have more in common with an orchestra leader than a lead violinist — but there is a wide range of styles (and effectiveness), with most falling somewhere in between. If you are fortunate to have an orchestra leader, they will suggest which areas deserve more robust discussion but invite questions on other topics. They are also likely to poll individual members (chiefly quieter directors) to hear all views. Then they provide a short synthesis of the Board's collective view or steps to resolve material differences. With a lead violinist, all directors must be more assertive to achieve a balanced outcome.
• Speak up. Many advise new members to be seen and not heard in their first year; I beg to differ. The Board appointed you because of the value of your voice at the table. So, use it in a way that fits the social cues you observe. In a tension-filled boardroom, a fallback option is to speak privately to the Chair or another experienced director afterward. I once discovered that the Chair needed an offline discussion to understand newer digital business models before he could process my questions. 

Never exit early. The real action often happens after hours.

Family secrets are rarely shared while 20 guests watch their host carve a turkey. Likewise, the most valuable organizational insights often come after the official boardroom is dark. As a new director, you might want to exit early and prepare for day two. Please don't do that! You could miss the "real meeting" after the meeting. So, come ready for a long day and late night.

• Treat the board dinner as more than a meal. Many valuable personal connections and informal insights come while enjoying a glass of wine or breaking bread together. The end-of-day dinner or reception with fellow directors, company leadership, presenters, or HIPO employees is often a microcosm of Board and company culture. Seek out different individuals as your tablemates to maximize your learning.
• Be on the lookout for informal gatherings. Independent directors, especially out-of-towners, often have an unofficial meeting after the official end of day one. Listen closely for mentions during hotel check-in, and don't be afraid to invite yourself. Such informal get-togethers can be more conducive to building relationships and are sometimes where the "real" discussion occurs. One of my boards had interviewed CEO finalists and decided on one in the formal meeting. But a robust debate of the candidates continued in the hotel bar that evening. I resolved then and there never to miss the "after party." 

Be disciplined about debriefing.

Meeting adjourned. You survived, made a solid impression, and started to establish the interpersonal foundations for many years of successful teamwork — with your fellow directors or now-familiar in-laws. After two intense days of meetings, the temptation is to dive into the backlog of emails accumulated while you were away. Instead, while your recollections are fresh, set aside a few minutes to reflect on the previous 48 hours. 

• Close the loop on learning. Shared ground transportation can provide an excellent opportunity to confirm takeaways with other directors. The flight home offers time for personal reflection. 
• Follow through on commitments. During the meeting, you may have noted opportunities to make an introduction or share more profound insights. Act before they slip away.
• Expense and purge. During your first week home, organize your notes, purge extraneous materials, and submit travel expenses on time to stay on good terms with accounts payable!

Don't be a stranger. Stay engaged.

Although your next quarterly meeting (or family gathering) may be months out, it's your responsibility to stay informed and keep in touch. Breaking events like the pandemic and supply chain interruptions have increased the frequency of corporate engagements. Don't be lulled into thinking that just because meetings are quarterly, your obligations are as well.  

• Make yourself available to management and board colleagues. Formal commitments could include interim committee meetings to fulfill disclosure obligations or advance a committee agenda (e.g., director search). As companies adapt to more volatile business environments, you may be asked to support ad hoc efforts. One of my boards uses a strategy sub-team to engage with management on critical topics. Another held frequent check-ins during a busy M&A period.
• Establish mechanisms for staying current. This could be as simple as reading the daily news and subscribing to relevant industry newsfeeds or publications. Remember to set Google alerts for your company and any significant competitors.
• Continue to build governance expertise. Attend local NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) chapter events or participate in online training and discussion forums on the latest boardroom issues.

While it is exciting to land your first board appointment, recognize that being invited to take a "seat at the table" is not the culmination but the start of the next phase of your board journey. And the best thing about being on a corporate board? Unlike marrying into a family, if you are successful, you may be invited to join more than one!