34 min
3.5 Annette Petchey on the role of the chair The Tippy Top
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- Entrepreneurship
The chair role is rarely understood yet is so critical to performance of Boards.
Annette Petchey is my long-standing shining example of what an outstanding chair looks like.
To help improve start-up outcomes and corporate governance across the UK and globe, Annette kindly agreed to share her wisdom.
Main topics and learnings:-
1. Don't chair a business as a good career move or path into retirement:
1.1. Being a chair is not about you, it's about what you can do for the business.
1.2. You'll only be a good chair if you're focused on others not your own career.
1.3. Nobody remembers who the chair was of a successful business and that's the way it should be.
2. Bad chairs try run the business:
2.1. Your job is to listen and collate rather than call the shots. Quite different to many director-level corporate roles.
2.2. The chair's job is to be a critical friend to the CEO, a sounding board and a voice of reason.
2.3. The chairs role is to represent the interests of the shareholders. This stops your own ego driving unhelpful behaviour.
2.4. The chair role is demanding enough (4x what the job advert says) without you trying to be CEO.
3. The boring stuff is important:
3.1. Everyone loves focusing on the strategy and customer engagement but neglecting the basics could lead to the business' demise.
3.2. The management accounts and the board pack are the early warnings.
3.3. Document everything - minutes, actions and especially the outputs from a risk workshop. Those risks could kill the business.
3.4. Develop an annual board calendar to ensure the board is performing a holistic role with all bases covered.
X.Bonus chair tips
X.1. Know when to step down - particularly when you lose enthusiasm or the business needs a different skill-set.
X.2. Always part as friends.
You can follow Annette on LinkedIn here
See you soon,
Alex @thetippytopblog
#chair #boards #NED #NXC #podcast #learnwithalex #askalex #investoready #vc #venturecapital #vcs #entrepreneurship #startups #thetippytop #businessadvice #seed #entrepreneurs #tech #angels #angelinvesting #investors #investing
Annette Petchey Bio"My executive career is mostly in financial services, starting in underwriting – which is all about risk assessment - but quickly becoming very commercially-oriented as I was one of the founders of Virgin’s life insurance company. I learned that start-ups have no respect for defined roles: everyone does whatever is needed to get things done, as efficiently as possible, preferably without letting anyone outside know how much effort is going into making everything seem effortless. That, and being able to take a “Ready… Fire!...Aim” approach.By this, I mean: know where you want to go, roughly what you need to do to get there, know and mitigate the significant risks that might stop you; set off; refine as you go along. After that, most of my exec roles have mostly been around businesses that either needed to be turned around, or that had lots of under-developed opportunity. These businesses also involved a lot of stakeholder engagement, so I also became adept at learning what people’s drivers were, and navigating a way to helping them meet their objectives.I have had a non-exec director roles with a variety of organisations across multiple sectors, which I continue to do alongside my executive career. I currently chair a fast-growing Funeral Planning start-up called Distinct and a charity supporting art in the North of England called New Light."
The chair role is rarely understood yet is so critical to performance of Boards.
Annette Petchey is my long-standing shining example of what an outstanding chair looks like.
To help improve start-up outcomes and corporate governance across the UK and globe, Annette kindly agreed to share her wisdom.
Main topics and learnings:-
1. Don't chair a business as a good career move or path into retirement:
1.1. Being a chair is not about you, it's about what you can do for the business.
1.2. You'll only be a good chair if you're focused on others not your own career.
1.3. Nobody remembers who the chair was of a successful business and that's the way it should be.
2. Bad chairs try run the business:
2.1. Your job is to listen and collate rather than call the shots. Quite different to many director-level corporate roles.
2.2. The chair's job is to be a critical friend to the CEO, a sounding board and a voice of reason.
2.3. The chairs role is to represent the interests of the shareholders. This stops your own ego driving unhelpful behaviour.
2.4. The chair role is demanding enough (4x what the job advert says) without you trying to be CEO.
3. The boring stuff is important:
3.1. Everyone loves focusing on the strategy and customer engagement but neglecting the basics could lead to the business' demise.
3.2. The management accounts and the board pack are the early warnings.
3.3. Document everything - minutes, actions and especially the outputs from a risk workshop. Those risks could kill the business.
3.4. Develop an annual board calendar to ensure the board is performing a holistic role with all bases covered.
X.Bonus chair tips
X.1. Know when to step down - particularly when you lose enthusiasm or the business needs a different skill-set.
X.2. Always part as friends.
You can follow Annette on LinkedIn here
See you soon,
Alex @thetippytopblog
#chair #boards #NED #NXC #podcast #learnwithalex #askalex #investoready #vc #venturecapital #vcs #entrepreneurship #startups #thetippytop #businessadvice #seed #entrepreneurs #tech #angels #angelinvesting #investors #investing
Annette Petchey Bio"My executive career is mostly in financial services, starting in underwriting – which is all about risk assessment - but quickly becoming very commercially-oriented as I was one of the founders of Virgin’s life insurance company. I learned that start-ups have no respect for defined roles: everyone does whatever is needed to get things done, as efficiently as possible, preferably without letting anyone outside know how much effort is going into making everything seem effortless. That, and being able to take a “Ready… Fire!...Aim” approach.By this, I mean: know where you want to go, roughly what you need to do to get there, know and mitigate the significant risks that might stop you; set off; refine as you go along. After that, most of my exec roles have mostly been around businesses that either needed to be turned around, or that had lots of under-developed opportunity. These businesses also involved a lot of stakeholder engagement, so I also became adept at learning what people’s drivers were, and navigating a way to helping them meet their objectives.I have had a non-exec director roles with a variety of organisations across multiple sectors, which I continue to do alongside my executive career. I currently chair a fast-growing Funeral Planning start-up called Distinct and a charity supporting art in the North of England called New Light."
34 min