Juggling Multiple Board Positions

I’m on the board of four large, public companies: Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy (LVMH), Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong Land, and Northern Trust Corporation. I’m also on the advisory boards of a few other companies. When you’re on an advisory board you do not take a statutory role with specific obligations. As you’re simply giving advice, there is less potential for conflicts of interest.

My first board position was with the National Westminster Bank, which was Britain’s biggest bank at that time. The Chairman of the bank had known of me and wanted to have someone on board with international expertise, including knowledge about Asia, which wasn’t widespread at that time in British business.

It could also be that you are introduced to a new company because you’ve worked with someone connected to them. Jardine Matheson had a number of Caterpillar agencies in Taiwan, Southern China, and so on. As I was on the board of Jardine Matheson, I was brought into contact with Caterpillar. The Chairman approached me and asked me to join the board at Caterpillar. As long as I didn’t get involved directly in decisions involving dealerships, I was clear of conflicts.

Boards are no longer the old boy, old school tie network they were once famous for being. Nowadays, you can register yourself with headhunters for non-executive board positions as well. I’m sure headhunters are responsible for at least half, if not more, of non-executive board appointments today. If you’re looking for an additional board to contribute to, headhunters are a good place to start.