What are your best tips in the hunt for an exciting board role?
Board work is fantastically stimulating and educational, I highly recommend it as an occupation if you are interested in business and business development. If you want to work with board work, I think you should talk about it to others. It is easier to be asked if the environment knows what you want. There are several board lists and board networks that you can position yourself via, social media is also a good way. I also think that you should get a qualitative board education, many who participate in board work today do not actually have that and it impairs the quality of the board work. It can, for example, become a challenge to maintain the boundary between operational and strategic issues.

What is the biggest challenge with working on boards according to your experience?
I see few challenges with the job itself as a board member, it is usually both interesting and fun! But one problem can be that meetings pile up some months. In September and November, we in the board industry have to roll up our sleeves, in October, on the other hand, we can take it a little easier. The individual companies, on the other hand, can end up in both difficult and even more difficult situations, and as a board member you always have a great responsibility for the business and to support the management. At the beginning of the pandemic, I had many extra board meetings to try to get a grip on how the restrictions affected the businesses, what financial endurance there was and what responsibility a company and employer has to prevent the spread of infection.

What are the most important skills to become a successful chairman of the board?
A board does not become better than its chairman! A good chairman is a good leader, moderator and organizer and ensures that everyone has a say. She or he is also one step ahead and has close contact with the CEO so that the board work can be quickly adapted depending on what support and what efforts the operational business currently needs.

Finally - do you have any dream board assignments out there that beckon?
I think several of my current assignments are real dream assignments. But I would like to participate in the board work in a business that sustainably doubles or triples its turnover annually, I would like to test my leadership philosophies when it goes so fast that the hair lies flat against the head.