WACL NED Talk : How Marketeers can become what boards are looking for – 19 May 2025

Our next NED session focusses on a key topic of interest for WACL members: the critically important benefit of having NEDs who bring marketing DNA to the boards they serve.

At a time when UK and international markets are becoming increasingly complex and dynamic, the experiential diversity and perspective a Marketing NED brings with their ability to look outside a company at the evolving landscape, spot change and opportunity, and interpret what they see to position the company to its greatest advantage, underlines their importance to the creation and development of effective strategy.

As the ‘consumer champion’, they balance the need to create value -for the brand, for its employees, and for its customers – and are central to company success and revenue generation.

To explore this topic in more depth, we are hugely fortunate to have two stellar speakers joining us who will share their perspectives – Francesca Ecsery, SID, NED and Chair of RemCo on a variety of Boards and Richard Sumner partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ London office and regional managing partner of the Consumer Markets Practice for Europe and Africa.  The discussion will be facilitated by our very own Jennelle Tilling.

This is a members only event, free of charge and will be held virtually on Monday the 19th of May 2025 at 12:15. Please let us know on [email protected] if you want us to reserve your spot.

Key Insights of the sessions

Richard

Perspectives gathered from observing marketeers’ impact on the boards they serve and the challenges they face.  Marketers need to understand the importance of differentiating themselves in the way they characterise their strengths and skills, and ‘play the game’ to get onto / remain on boards.  The most compelling skill is the understanding of the customer coupled  with how this delivers commercial value:

• Relevance to governance and future strategy – customer lens is crucial; focus on value delivered by understanding customer behaviour and voice to the purpose of the business
• Digital savvy and strategy – showing how marketing is at the forefront of innovation and adoption of new technologies, particularly AI, and how it will shape the future for customers and employees. Bringing clarity and understanding to the confusion and uncertainty here.
• Cross-functional expertise and ability to ‘join the dots’, serving as the connective tissue between the board and the brand, building relationships with stakeholders, facilitating ‘one voice’
• Future focus mindset – helping the board to shape the product / service proposition by understanding market dynamics; bringing curiosity, and the discipline to pressure-test the forward strategy
• Knowledge of the importance of competitive differentiation – product, service, people – to drive consideration and purchase

Understanding the game in the above ways creates broader and deeper opportunities for marketers to contribute to the board from earlier in their tenure as NEDS.

Other hints and tips:

• Start asking questions; speak to people who are on boards how they prepare for meetings, look for a mentor, understand the difference between operational and governance roles
• Not for profit boards – they are different but the interpersonal and governance skills you need are the same as commercial boards so can be a useful stepping stone to a paid commercial role
• Learn to ‘speak finance’ and make sure you know your way around from a governance perspective – understand the language of finance as well as you understand the language of marketing. Key differentiator for candidates
• Don’t wait for the ‘perfect role’. Don’t leave it too long to get into the game and onto a board.  It’s much easier to get a NED role once you have already got one!

Jennelle

Maximise the fact that in your role as marketers you operate across multiple streams of function to get things done; this is an asset.  Learn as much as you can about the category to fully exploit the value you can bring.  Help the board not get too caught up in the mechanics of the business too – how are operational decisions helping the customer and driving revenue.  Importance of developing a good and close relationship with the Chair once you are on a board

Francesca

When beginning to build a NED portfolio, Francesca looked for her ‘single-minded proposition’ that board might be looking for.  With a broad mix of marketing and general management experience, Francesca developed different propositions based on that experience to appeal to boards with differing needs: marketing, digital distribution, strategy, and international.

Interestingly, marketing – particularly experience of the customer / demand side of the business – has remained the proposition that has delivered the most traction for her so don’t underestimate the long- term value to the brand of your experience.

• Recognise the increasing need for generation of new revenue channels and how your experience can help here
• Importance of big data and what you bring from your knowledge of data / data organisational expertise / knowledge of digital marketing to build revenue streams
• Skills in how to drive and change customer behaviour, becoming the voice of the customer / customer champion on the board, always with a future focussed and commercial perspective
• People and facilitation skills that can be a real asset on Remco, either as a member or Chair of the committee
• Skills that come into their own when specific challenges are faced by a board, e.g. IPO’s, DEI and sustainability, existential challenges eg the pandemic/re-opening a business after lockdown. Marketers have the versatility to cope well in these scenarios.

“Every board needs one of us”.

Questions

• B2B v B2C?

Board dynamics for similar for both, albeit potentially slower pace on B2B.  Marketers are relevant to both.  Be curious about B2B if you come from B2B, don’t be too picky or limit yourself by waiting for the ‘right’ opportunity.  Marketers have broad USPs, and you will learn from the experience even if it’s not exactly in your previous wheelhouse as a CMO/Exec. You’ll learn a lot, earn stripes / gain references.  Look for an enlightened Chair who will see beyond your pigeon-hole of marketing.  Practice the language of consumers versus customers / clients.

• Common traps of getting it wrong when marketing or positioning yourself as a NED?

Avoid the common trap that the marketing community can fall into re “talking to itself’ (or being whiney about how the world is against them!).  Boards care about delivery and financial performance; they don’t care about awards.

Keep an open mind about the type of sectors or boards you are prepared to go for, look beyond the pigeon-hole.

Be flexible about how you build your portfolio.  Stevie Spring’s advice to have ‘one for status, one for the money, one for fun, one to learn from, and one to give back’  was noted (accepting that five NED roles could be too many for some!).

• Advice on how we present ourselves as NEDS and build our story

Chairs often look for specific functional skills to build expertise on their board, e.g. those with HR/People leadership skills that would be valuable on Remco.  Look for ways to avoid being considered a ‘vanity’ appointment on a board: opportunities where you can contribute to those specialist functional skills, how your skills will help the board and the brand to drive revenue – make your experience go beyond ‘the customer’.  Always focus on the commercial – find ways to pair “consumer” with “commerciality and demand /revenue generation”.

Use the language of the board – finance and revenue – in how you tell your story.

Be realistic: there are arguably only around 10 opportunities for female  NEDS on FTSE 100 boards every year.  Recognise that only around 3% of people sitting on boards globally are marketers.  Competition is fierce, rejection is frequent.  Apply as much as possible, be flexible about what you will consider, and develop a robust and resilient attitude to rejection.

• Value of people / empathy and listening skills / workforce engagement / stakeholder management skills to boards?

Recognise that Chairs may seek this in those who come from HR / People functions as Execs.  Find ways to bring to life your functional experience here but be realistic about the fact that Chairs/Boards who have recognise they have a people / workforce issue to tackle will lean towards those with functional expertise.

• How much do boards actually understand marketing expertise?

Candidly, many boards don’t understand the value of marketeer experience and what a marketing NED can bring / how they add value commercially, and have a lack of expectation here.  Don’t be diminished or defeated by this (or complain about it!) – focus on ways to assertively tell your story of how you have delivered commercial success in your marketing / exec roles.

• Ways to improve financial fluency and confidence

Find ways to brush up / adopt the vernacular of finance.  There are courses (Institute of Directors / FT), but they can be expensive.  Check out the recording from the recent WACL CEO 101 on Finance, and make sure you book to attend the last WACL NED session of the year on 23^rd June as it will be focussing on Finance for Board NEDS (led by Sharon Baylay).

Explore the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) https://www.frc.org.uk/ website which provides lots of useful, free information about your financial responsibilities as a NED.

Get to know the CFO / build good personal relationships with any finance colleagues.

• Is experience of government / public service boards valuable to commercial boards?

Yes, if you can find evidence to show how your stakeholder / relationship management experience can be a commercial asset.  Knowledge of government regulation and experience of navigating ‘corridors’ of power is a real asset too.

• Is sitting on a board but not as a director valuable to board recruiters?

No, not usually.  However, showing up on those boards in the way a NED needs to – focussing on commercial performance, forward strategy, and long-term planning will be good experience for when you do get your first board director appointment.

• Advice on CV writing

A lot of what is traditionally included in Exec CVs doesn’t actually make a difference as to whether you will be considered or not for NED roles.  When writing them, think about the lens the recruiter / Chair will look at your experience through:  they want to see evidence of successful business performance, the degree of your contribution to that commercial success and the strategic development of the business: clear evidence of your impact.  It’s much less about your skills and much more about how you have applied them for commercial success, who you are, and why you stand out.

Speaker Biographies

Richard Sumner