CEO都应该去另一家公司担任董事

    上周，我与我们最近所投资公司的CEO们进行了两次会谈，谈到了“理想的董事会会议是什么样的？”。我正在就这个问题写一本书《初创公司董事会：重构董事会，给创业者更好的支持》（Startup Boards: Reinventing the Board of Directors to Better Support the Entrepreneur），因此要解释我认为理想的董事会会议对我而言并不难，因为我对此已经进行了非常深入的思考。

    我一直建议CEO们到其他公司担任外部董事。不管公司规模大小，不管是否与这家公司有关联，或者CEO是否了解相关的创业者。我更感兴趣的是CEO将获得在别人的公司担任董事的经验。

    在一家迅速成长的初创企业担任CEO是项艰巨的任务。既有欣喜，也有沮丧，更多的日子则是介于两者之间。我从未遇到过一家初创公司是一帆风顺地成长，也从未遇到过哪个CEO不需要定期学习新事物、没有遭遇过挫折、也没有经历过巨大的不确定性和挣扎。

    鉴于我已经不再担任CEO（虽然我曾经是CEO，而且当了7年），我没有承受作为CEO的压力。十七年来，我一直向一起工作的CEO们提供意见。即便我大笔投资一家公司，我也能在情感上和职能上超越CEO日常的压力和变动，但与此同时仍能理解这些问题，因为我也曾经有过这样的经历。

    现在想象一下，你就是一家迅速成长的初创公司的CEO。如果能花一小部分时间，像我一样以同样超然的情感和职能思考别人的公司，是不是很棒？它不仅能拓展你的新才能，还将给你一个更宽广的视角来审视“CEO职务”到底应该如何履行。你或许会对CEO产生一些新的感受，包括共鸣（因为你也是一名CEO）——这对于有些人而言可能很难理解，但从本质上说这是更好地认识你自己，特别是当你的情绪有些低落的时候。你会对其他董事产生共鸣，帮助你更好地认识自己公司的董事，或者学到一些方式方法，与他们建立起更有效的关系，或者决定你是否需要换董事。

    此外，还有很多微妙的收获。你的人际网络将得到拓展。你将从另一个不同的视角来审视一家公司。你将站在融资讨论的另一边（你是董事，不是CEO）。你将更深入地理解“受托责任”。你将和另一名CEO建立起同侪关系，融入董事会-CEO关系之中。你将接触到新的管理风格。你将经历不同的冲突，但没有相同的压力。这种收获说也说不完。

    我通常建议只担当一家公司的外部董事。而不是两家、三家——就一家。超过一家就太多了——作为在任CEO，你不可能有太多时间对担任外部董事抱有认真态度并深思熟虑。或许你感觉自己有能力担任多家公司的董事，但你自己的公司才是第一位的。当然，也有例外，特别是连续创业的企业家与某一位投资者之间，这是一种涉及多家公司、更深入的合作关系（我手头就有几家这样的公司）。但通常情况下，一家就足够了。

    这里面不包括非营利机构的董事。非营利机构的董事你想做多少都随你。但在非营利机构，你将学到和体验到的变化、激励、动机等等是完全不同的。这不是我们今天要讨论的问题。

    如果你是一家初创公司的CEO，还没有在另外一家公司担任董事，不妨想想怎么来做。如果你在我的圈子里，还没有担任外部公司董事，不妨联系我，或许我可以帮你结识一些人。

    布拉德•菲尔德(@bfeld)作为早期投资者和创业者已有二十多年。在共同创立Foundry Group前，他共同创立了风险投资公司Mobius Venture Capital以及帮助建立和经营软件公司的Intensity Ventures。布拉德还是创业公司孵化器TechStars的共同创始人，他的博客地址是www.feld.com/wp/。

    译者：早稻米

    Last week I had two meetings with CEOs of companies we've recently invested in where the question of "what is an ideal board meeting" came up. I'm writing an entire book on it called Startup Boards: Reinventing the Board of Directors to Better Support the Entrepreneur, so it's easy for me to define my ideal board meeting at this point since my head is pretty deep into it intellectually.

    One of the things I always suggest to CEOs is that they be an outside director for one company that is not their own. I don't care how big or small the company is, whether or not I have an involvement in the company or if the CEO knows the entrepreneurs involved. I'm much more interested in the CEO having the experience of being a board member for someone else's company.

    Being CEO of a fast growing startup is a tough job. There are awesome days, dismal days, and lots of in-between days. I've never been in a startup that was a straight line of progress, and I've never worked with a CEO who didn't regularly learn new things, have stuff not work or not go through stretches of huge uncertainty and struggle.

    Given that I am no longer a CEO (although I was once – for seven years) I don't feel the pressure of being CEO. As a result I've spent a lot of the past 17 years being able to provide perspective for the CEOs I work with. Even when I'm deeply invested in the company, I can be emotionally and functionally detached from the pressure and dynamics of what the CEO is going through on a daily basis while still understanding the issues since I've had the experience.

    Now, imagine you are a CEO of a fast growing startup. Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to spend a small amount of your time in that same emotional and functional detachment for someone else's company? Not only would it stretch some new muscles for you, it'd give you a much broader perspective on how "the job of a CEO" works. You might have new empathy for a CEO, which could include self-empathy (since you are also a CEO) – which is a tough concept for some, but is fundamentally about understanding yourself better, especially when you are under emotional distress of some sort. You'd have empathy for other board members and would either appreciate your own board members more, or learn tools and approaches to develop a more effective relationship with them, or decide you need different ones.

    There are lots of other subtle benefits. You'll extend your network. You'll view a company from a different vantage point. You'll be on the other side of the financing discussions (a board member, rather than the CEO). You'll understand "fiduciary responsibility" more deeply. You'll have a peer relationship with another CEO that you have a vested interest in that crosses over to a board – CEO relationship. You'll get exposed to new management styles. You'll experience different conflicts that you won't have the same type of pressure from. The list goes on and on.

    I usually recommend only one outside board. Not two, not three – just one. Any more than one is too many – as an active CEO you just won't have time to be serious and deliberate about it. While you might feel like you have capacity for more, your company needs your attention first. There are exceptions, especially with serial entrepreneurs who have a unique relationship with an investor where it's a deeper, collaborative relationship across multiple companies (I have a few of these), but generally one is plenty.

    I don't count non-profit boards in this mix. Do as much non-profit stuff as you want. The dynamics, incentives, motivations, and things you'll learn and experience are totally different. That's not what this is about.

    If you are a CEO of a startup and you aren't on one other board as an outside director, think hard about doing it. And, if you are in my world and aren't on an outside board, holler if you want my help getting you connected up with some folks.

    Brad Feld (@bfeld) has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over twenty years. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures, a company that helped launch and operate software companies. Brad is also a co-founder of TechStars, and blogs at http://www.feld.com/wp/