Michelle Rodger: Well-chosen silver panther can make your outfit purr

Published on Saturday 19 September 2009 13:46

SO, NON-executive directors, value for money or unnecessary luxury? Opinion, it has to be said, is divided.

On the plus side, it's advantageous to have the support and guidance of "older", wiser businessmen and women who have experienced the ups and downs, ins and outs of running a business and are willing to share their knowledge with success-hungry entrepreneurs and their companies.

Silver panthers, as they are often known, have a wealth of experience to share with a young team and the wealth of contacts and favours on which a non-exec can call is immense.

Those are the pros. Now for the cons; non-execs tend to be male, they aren't free, and they aren't even cheap, although in some cases the fees might be supported through grant funding, and a truly valuable non-exec is harder to find than rocking horse droppings.

Most ambitious, growth-driven businesses are populated with the under-40s, indeed, under-30s in many cases. The ability to work incredibly long hours, under great stress does take its toll, and some of these under-40s do indeed tend to look like over-60s. But looking older and acting older are two very different things.

It seems obvious, then, that an entrepreneurially-driven business needs a non-exec. But the lack of good non-execs in Scotland appears to be equally matched by the lack of awareness amongst smaller companies of the need to employ one.

According to John Anderson, who has painful past experience of working with a difficult non-exec and current experience of being a non-exec, smaller companies in Scotland are fishing in a very small pond of decent talent, with too many retired bankers, accountants and lawyers plying their trade.

As chief executive of the Entrepreneurial Exchange, Anderson also has the advantage of meeting and learning from some of the country's leading entrepreneurs, many of whom act as non-exec directors on a variety of boards. But that's not enough. The Exchange is actively encouraging more entrepreneurs, particularly young entrepreneurs, to sit on the boards of other companies.

Brian Williamson, a fellow Exchange director, likens finding a non-exec is to going on a journey and sourcing the best guide for the trip. Whether it's climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or racing a yacht on Lake Superior (both of which he has done), relevant experience is crucial. "The more battle-scarred, the better," says Williamson, a non-exec director himself and founder of Tiger Eye.

Currently working on a number of business recoveries, Williamson also insists early intervention is key. "You need a specific guide for each experience," he says, "And you should choose your guide before you start.

"Why would you go on a business journey that threatens your personal wealth without a pair of experienced hands at your side?"

Once you know you need non-executive support on your board, you need to go fishing in that wee Scottish pond, but what special attributes should you be seeking?

Professor Russel Griggs believes a good non-exec is there to help, not to interfere, but must be able to challenge and add value.

Battle-scarred and experienced himself, Professor Griggs sits on numerous boards for government, corporates and smaller businesses. A former chairman of CBI Scotland, he thinks a good non-exec has to be good at jigsaw puzzles. He or she has to be able to figure out with the business owner what the picture on the box should look like, then help him or her to work out if the business has all the bits in the box to complete the puzzle.

"Paying for the added value is something a business owner simply must do," says Professor Griggs.

To conclude, I'd like to share my own experience of the advantages of inviting a non-exec on to your board.

My management team and I learned shortcuts to success, we learned the lessons of previous mistakes, which meant we didn't have the pain of recovering from and learning from them ourselves, and as a result we achieved results, growth and profits much faster and saved money in the process.

Personally, I learned how to chair a board meeting – effectively. I learned how to read between the lines of the management accounts quickly and accurately. I also learned that I still had to learn a huge amount about business.

My non-execs became more than company advisers; they also became mentors, and I'm truly grateful to for the patient endurance as they coached me to become a far better businesswoman than I could ever have imagined.

I am certainly not "silver", although to be fair I haven't seen my natural colour in a long time so that may be a moot point, but I do have some advice to share.

Keep a place for the silver panther on your board. Actively seek out that wise head with the youthful outlook and a plethora of experiences from which to draw and advise the best path forward. And be prepared to pay for the privilege – for the right non-exec it will be worth every penny.