At a dinner conversation, the newly elected president of TiE Silicon Valley, seated next to me, asked a pointed question: “What is required of being on the boards of a not‑for‑profit?”
It was a gathering of first‑generation Indian stewards of Silicon Valley — a humble bunch — honoring another self‑made Indian businessman. We hoped to draw inspiration from him and from each other.
The president-elect’s question was direct. In my usual style, I replied, “Of course, giving money is required. But I also need to figure out what my value‑add is in the boardroom. Since I’m far less ingrained in their business than when I was running my own company as CEO, it’s like steering a rudder with a remote control.”
What I did not say was this: It’s equally important that I get something out of it. I seek new learnings and intellectual rigor — however loosely defined. Rubbing shoulders with co‑board members, staying alert to how to navigate my voice in the room, and contributing to longer‑term strategy based on my own experience is invigorating.
Staying engaged is not the point. Staying entangled is. That’s what gives me the kicks.
Each business is unique, with its own problems. One quickly realizes there is no cookie‑cutter recipe to fix it.
One thing not‑for‑profit boards lack is shareholders or owners in the boardrooms — the role Jeff Bezos fills at Amazon. The owner keeps focus on where the ship is going, even through headwinds or storms caused by market shifts or business‑model changes. Unlike me, he doesn’t steer by remote. He has his hand on the rudder.
I’ve come to feel that my greatest asset on non‑profit boards is being the owner’s voice. That is my niche. I want to protect the organization, but do it with empathy. You cannot nitpick management’s mistakes; they operate under real constraints. Every CEO makes plenty of small and big mistakes. That happens to be the nature of the beast.
Sensing and suggesting ideas with that understanding is the quiet secret key to being an impactful board member.
I have also encountered CEOs who whitewash, curate, or even manipulate the board. Those are simply unacceptable. I do not want to be part of those boards.
A board member’s role is far more involved than it appears. I’ve been immersed in that world for twenty years, and today I sit on the boards of several not‑for‑profits:
- Palo Alto Medical Foundation/Sutter Health, a prestigious healthcare organization of Silicon Valley;
- CARE, an eminent healthcare research institute within Stanford Medicine;
- Asia Society Northern California, a global platform for open policy-related dialogues;
- TiE Silicon Valley, fostering entrepreneurship amongst people from the Indus subcontinent (with chapters in the US, India, UK), where I serve on the Council of Trustees.
- Then there is SLMATH, a mathematics institute that prides itself on being the collaborative research lab for all the Field Medalists—the Nobel Prize of Math—since its founding over 40 years ago, where Professor Elwyn Berlekamp pulled me in.
Look how unexpectedly, organically, some of these doors opened. A backyard conversation with the professor at an annual celebration my late husband hosted for his cross‑border venture fund. I asked how he’d first gotten into math. I hadn’t seen myself in his world at all—that’s often how it happens. Not a deliberate effort. Serendipity.