Reply To: Candidates who do not have key industry experience in the domain space (e.g. you have NOT worked directly for an organization in this space) what is your pitch that you can add value to the Board and the complex industry issues it faces?

[Alex]

Many board <font color=”rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)” face=”inherit”>neophytes, especially some who see themselves as competent computer scientists (which they are) don’t understand that the principal job of the board is to supervise the CEO, not to write code. That also means </font>knowing<font color=”rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)” face=”inherit”> how to hire and when to fire the CEO. </font>

That begs the question, to supervise the CEO do you need equivalent experience and expertise (or better)? The CIRA Board does not need more technical expertise; there are never such technical discussions at the Board as CIRA is a business. Nor should the Board be a book club replete with interesting discussions from a diverse community of thought. Diversity is important but not a diversity of competence.

The Board needs directors with P&L experience who understand “how to run a lemonade stand”, how the interplay of all management disciplines – far more than computer science – work together. The board must provide value if CIRA is to be better.