Board advisory
Who tells the board what nobody inside can afford to say?
Exhibit 1
The question
Retained rather than project work: a monthly call, a written note before each board meeting, and availability in the weeks when a decision is actually being made rather than the weeks when it is being reported.
Who this is for
Boards making four or five decisions a year that each cost more than the retainer costs in a decade.
Exhibit 2
How it runs
- MonthlyA note before the board meetingTwo pages, sent three days ahead, on the decisions actually on the agenda. Read by people who will not read twenty.
- MonthlyOne callAn hour, with whoever needs it. Usually the president or the sporting director, occasionally both, rarely together.
- WindowsAvailable when it mattersThe two transfer windows and any manager change. That is when advisory is worth paying for and the rest of the year is maintenance.
- AlwaysOne sentence, on requestThe service most used, and the one clients describe when they recommend it: somebody outside the building who will answer a direct question directly.
What you receive
What you receive
- A written note before every board meeting
- A monthly call, and availability in both windows
- A second opinion on any signing, in writing if you want it
- Cancellable on a month's notice, without a conversation
What this is not
I do not take a percentage of transfers, ever, and I will not introduce you to agents. Advice paid for by the transaction it recommends is not advice, and the moment it is on the table this becomes a different and worse business.