Director Institute in the Media

Ali Brown interviews Kylie Hammond who shares why she’s made it her mission to break barriers in the boardroom as the CEO of the fastest growing network of director talent, Director Institute: Next Generation Directors.

With the growing emergence of ‘portfolio careers’ and the increased demand for next generation board directors, HR professionals are now faced with a growing number of requests from executives wishing to serve on external company boards.

The majority of board positions are paid ($50,000 to $60,000 is typical for an advisory role) but getting your first role is usually the biggest challenge.

Boards need directors who understood people, as people are only one of a handful of ways to gain competitive advantage in the market.

Companies are scouting out potential board directors from placing them in specialist board advisory panels, before appointing them to the top jobs, search firms claim.

CEO of the Director Institute reveals how the right marketing expertise can benefit a company’s board of directors

Boardrooms are in need of a shake-up and the criteria for selecting replacement directors is badly out of date.

Cultural stereotypes and biases are clearly among the reasons why executives of Asian background still only represent 1.95 of board directors on ASX boards – in an environment where they make up 10% of our population.

Talented female senior executives who leave the workforce to have children need to consider the opportunities that are presented by starting a board career.

There is a fresh, dynamic talent pool of quality directors available with phenomenal skills and capabilities that can make a real contribution at board level. Business First spoke with Kylie Hammond of the Director Institute about what it takes to thrive in a board role.

There comes a time in every entrepreneur’s business journey when they recognise they need more than just casual advice. The formation of an advisory board with the right mix of skills, experience and talent is often critical to the long-term success of the business venture.

Lip service has been paid for long enough about gender diversity in ASX-listed boardrooms. There has been plenty of talk about quotas, ‘30 per cent clubs’, and exclusive mentoring programs offered as a cure-all to aspiring female board members from more experienced ASX Chairman and Board Directors. Yet, the numbers still don’t stack up. We are still not making progress towards equal representation in the ASX-listed environments.

The majority of ASX-listed companies are still failing to understand the importance of ensuring a diverse set of skills in the boardroom.

It’s a reality that capital raising for start-ups remains challenging in Australia. And while there have been some good initiatives in this space, many high potential start-ups are starved for funds and in particular ‘smart capital’.

Many of us aspire to climb the corporate ladder and help steer a company to success, but getting there can seem like an impossible task. The competition is fierce, with only 80 new board positions available each year in the Australia’s top 200 listed companies. So, how can you get ahead and make it onto a board? Sky News Business reporter Carson Scott spoke with Kylie Hammond, CEO of the Director Institute.