Latest / Executive Careers with Fexingo: VP, C-Suite, and Senior Leadership Career Strategy / How Senior Leaders Use Personal Branding to Land Board Seats
Transcript
- Lucas: So you're a senior leader — maybe a VP or a C-suite executive — and you've been thinking about landing a board seat. You've got the resume, the operational experience, the P&L track record. But you send out your bio to a few board placement firms and hear nothing. Luna: It's frustrating because you know you're qualified. But the nominating committee doesn't know you from anyone else. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the gap we're looking at today. Because the executives who actually get those board invitations — they don't just have a good resume. They have a personal brand that signals 'I'm the person for this specific board.' Luna: Before we dive in — Lucas, I want to mention something. This show is ad-free, and it stays that way because listeners like us chip in a few dollars a month. It genuinely covers the hosting costs and research time. Lucas: Yeah, it's small amounts that add up. If you've ever gotten a useful insight from an episode — maybe it changed how you approached a negotiation or a career move — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo is the place. Luna: Exactly. No pressure, just a sincere thank you to anyone who helps keep this going. Okay, back to board seats. Lucas: So I want to talk about a real case. There's a former CFO of a mid-cap industrial company — let's call her Sarah. She had strong financial credentials, but so do hundreds of other CFOs looking for board roles. Luna: Right. What made her stand out? Lucas: She didn't just list 'ESG experience' on her resume. She built a specific public identity around ESG reporting. She started writing detailed LinkedIn posts about the new SEC climate disclosure rules — not generic hot takes, but really technical walkthroughs of what companies needed to do. Luna: So she showed her expertise, not just claimed it. Lucas: Yes. And within 18 months, she got board invitations from three separate companies. Two were in industrials, one was in energy. And every single lead came from someone who had read her content or seen her speak at a conference. Luna: That's a pretty direct ROI. But I think a lot of executives worry that personal branding feels — I don't know, kind of self-promotional. Like it's beneath them. Lucas: There's a real hesitation, especially among senior leaders who come from engineering or finance backgrounds. They think the work should speak for itself. But the data shows otherwise. A 2025 survey from BoardReady found that 68 percent of board directors say a candidate's external thought leadership — their articles, speaking engagements, public commentary — influenced whether they even got an interview. Luna: Two-thirds. That's huge. Lucas: It is. And it makes sense. Board nominating committees are risk-averse. They want a known quantity, someone whose thinking they can evaluate before they ever sit in a room together. Your personal brand is that pre-screening. Luna: So what's the actual playbook? How do you do it without coming across as a LinkedIn influencer? Lucas: The first step is to narrow your focus. Sarah didn't write about 'leadership' or 'finance' broadly. She owned one lane: ESG reporting under the new SEC rules. That specificity made her the go-to person for that topic. Luna: So you pick a niche that aligns with a board need. For her it was ESG, for someone else it might be cybersecurity or international expansion. Lucas: Exactly. And you have to create content that demonstrates your depth. That could be a LinkedIn article analyzing a recent regulatory filing, a speaking slot at a conference on board governance, or even a podcast appearance where you talk through a specific challenge. Luna: I've also seen executives who write op-eds in the business press. That carries a lot of weight with nominating committees. Lucas: Absolutely. A bylined article in a publication like the Wall Street Journal or Harvard Business Review is gold. But not everyone has that access. The point is to be visible in the channels where board members actually consume information. Luna: And it's not just about written content. Speaking at the right conferences can be even more powerful because people see you in person. Lucas: Yes. And here's the nuance: you don't have to be the keynote speaker at a thousand-person event. A targeted roundtable or a panel at a governance-focused conference like the National Association of Corporate Directors can be just as effective. The audience is literally people who serve on boards. Luna: What about the risk of over-indexing on visibility? I've seen some executives who spend so much time building their brand that their actual job performance slips. Lucas: That's a real danger. The personal brand has to be built on genuine expertise. If you're posting about topics you don't actually know, it will backfire when you get into a boardroom interview and can't answer the detailed questions. Luna: So substance has to come first. The brand is just a signal. Lucas: Right. And the best signal is peer endorsement. When other respected executives publicly comment on your posts or recommend you for speaking slots, that amplifies your credibility far more than any self-written bio. Luna: So it's about building a network of advocates who can vouch for you in those informal conversations where board seats are really filled. Lucas: Exactly. And that network doesn't happen overnight. Sarah started by engaging with other people's content — commenting thoughtfully, sharing insights, building relationships. Then she began contributing her own pieces. It took about a year before she saw traction. Luna: I think that timeline is important. A lot of executives expect that if they write three LinkedIn posts, they'll get a board call. It doesn't work that way. Lucas: No. It's a compounding process. But the payoff is real. Once you have that reputation, you're not just another resume in the pile. You're the person the committee already trusts. Luna: One thing I'd add: this approach works best when you're clear on what kind of board you want. Are you targeting public company boards, private equity portfolio boards, or nonprofit boards? The personal brand needs to match. Lucas: Great point. A Fortune 500 audit committee is looking for different signals than a tech startup board. Your content strategy should reflect that. Sarah aimed at public company boards with heavy regulatory exposure, so her focus on SEC rules made perfect sense. Luna: I also want to touch on the internal vs. external question. If you're already inside a company and hoping for a board seat, does personal branding matter as much? Lucas: It matters differently. Internally, your reputation is more about your track record inside the organization. But for an outside board seat, you're competing with people who don't know you. So the brand becomes critical. That said, internal candidates who also have a strong external brand are often seen as more attractive because they bring outside perspective. Luna: So it's additive either way. Let me ask a practical question: how much time per week should an executive realistically invest in building this brand? Lucas: I've seen successful executives spend about an hour a week. They block it on their calendar. Maybe thirty minutes reading and engaging with others' content, thirty minutes drafting a post or preparing for a speaking opportunity. The key is consistency, not volume. Luna: And they don't try to be everywhere. They pick one or two platforms — usually LinkedIn and maybe one industry publication — and focus there. Lucas: Exactly. Spreading yourself thin across Twitter, Instagram, TikTok — that's not going to land you a board seat at a manufacturing company. Know your audience. Luna: So to sum up: pick a focused niche, create genuine content that shows depth, build peer endorsements, and be patient. That's the repeatable formula. Lucas: And it's a formula that works. Sarah is now on three boards. She still writes about ESG reporting, but now her posts are more about the practical challenges of implementation — because she's living it. Luna: The brand becomes a feedback loop. The more you do it, the more opportunities come, which gives you more real experience to write about. Lucas: That's the virtuous cycle. And it's open to any senior leader who's willing to invest a little time and be genuinely useful to their network. Luna: I think that's a good place to leave it. Next episode, we're going to talk about something that often comes up in these board conversations — how to handle the compensation question without seeming greedy. Lucas: Yeah, board comp is a whole different animal. Looking forward to that. Thanks for listening, everyone.