Bohill partners
“Talented people don’t ever retire, they just re-calibrate their week.”
Managing a Non-Executive career takes planning – regardless of whether you’ve ‘gone plural’ with a portfolio of Non-Executive roles or if you’re beginning to contemplate a NED role to add to your day job responsibilities. Bohill Partners regularly gathers both groups of people to speak about experiences, lessons learned, advice and guidance. Normally held in our offices and over croissants, our most recent event was a BYOB (Bring your own Breakfast!): a zoom call where we convened virtually over computers and coffee!
Left to right: Mike Clarke, Emily Bohill, Ben Almond, Tony Edgley, Duncan Owen, Ben Dimson, Craig McWilliam, Chris Carter Keall, Alessandro Bronda, Gianluca Romano, Anthony Shayle, Peter Denton (off camera: Richard White, Simon Betty)
During this session we defined the seven things that people/firms want from their Non-Executive:
- Change management skills
- Rolodex
- Ideas factory
- Stop us time wasting
- Assurance on risk management
- Challenge (not too much, not too little – the Goldilocks NED of ‘just right’)
- Value for money
Other points discussed during the session:
- Using your network – what do those closest to you think you can provide?
- How do you present your experience in a way that talks most clearly to your strengths? Whilst a CV is useful, biographies are important in order to highlight the best bits in a long career.
- Go outside your comfort zone – this is great training for NED as you can’t be the executive.
What lessons have you learned along your NED journey? For those of you who’ve done this role before, what advice would you give to those just starting down this road?
