The organizational form of the private board of directors was born in 1957 and evolved from regular roundtable discussions between Wisconsin entrepreneur Robert Nourse and four other CEOs. They named this kind of communication within the network the TEC (Decision Maker Committee). Later, the organization independently developed into the CEO development agency-VISTAGE. Fifty years later, Vistage Private Board branches have expanded to more than a dozen countries, with about 17,000 members. The founder of Oracle and Thomson Reuters are its major shareholders.
Private board of directors has a history of more than 50 years in mature Western market economy countries and has a very mature operating model. Many CEOs in Europe and the United States have their own private board of directors services. According to incomplete statistics, more than 500,000 CEOs in developed countries in Europe and America have their own private boards of directors. This service model can effectively enhance the competitiveness of enterprises. The growth rate of enterprises with private boards of directors is 2.5 times that of other enterprises.
The first person to introduce the concept of private board of directors to China was a young couple. At the end of 2006, Liu Jiayan and her husband Feng Xi, who graduated from the Wharton School of Business, gave up their consulting jobs in the United States and returned to China to establish a "private board of directors" in an attempt to copy the private board of directors model they observed in the United States to the mainland. Later, Vistage also entered China, but due to the acclimatization, it withdrew its capital and left. The comedy is that just after the Americans left, private boardrooms suddenly became popular in 2013, especially in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places. , Private boards of directors have also appeared in Chengdu in the west, such as Beijing's "Five Five Private Board", Shanghai's "The Bund Private Board", Guangzhou's "Nuojin Private Board", Wuhan's "Peking University Strategy Private Board", Chengdu's "Tianfu" Private board of directors, etc., "private board of directors" has become a fashionable term, and there are currently dozens of institutions doing private board of directors projects. In developed cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou in mainland China, having a personal coach has become a business card for success, and the "private board of directors" has become the third type of communication between business operators after EMBA and the rich club. platform for communication.
In fact, for small and medium-sized enterprises, when corporate presidents face various strategic decisions and internal management problems, they often lack capable, experienced, and trustworthy people to discuss with them, and no matter how wise they are, It is also difficult for business leaders to make correct decisions on everything. Sometimes, even if the strategic direction and solution ideas are correct, due to the lack of methods and execution capabilities, some problems of the company are difficult to solve by relying on internal forces. 1. Principle of the number one person in charge of the company
The private board of directors is only open to the number one person in charge of the company. This is based on the fact that the problems to be solved and handled by the private board of directors are the most comprehensive, sharp, core and comprehensive problems faced by the company, rather than a certain aspect of professional problems; the help that the private board of directors can provide is also The most private, complex and substantial help cannot be discussed, decided and implemented without the top leader. The Private Board is an organization dedicated to solving problems and gathering momentum for action.
2. Principle of non-conflict of interest
The operation of the private board of directors involves a large number of business secrets. Therefore, it must be ensured that there is no conflict of interest among the members of the private board of directors. In order to avoid conflicts of interest as much as possible, members of the private board of directors should come from different industries and have similar industry status and development stage. At the same time, which private boards should he be a member of? To avoid conflicts of interest.
3. Confidentiality principle
Private board communication inevitably involves the disclosure of a large number of business secrets, which are of great value. Private board members and experts must sign confidentiality agreements and promise not to use these trade secrets to benefit themselves or third parties.
4. Principle of equality
The status of members of the private board of directors is equal. In the activities of the private board of directors, recognized procedures should be followed in order to achieve the broadest candor. opinions and the highest deliberation efficiency. Members of the private board of directors have the freedom to withdraw from the membership; through democratic voting, the private board of directors also has the freedom to expel members.
5. Coaching Principle
The operation of the private board of directors requires a senior professional to serve as a coach and assume the responsibility of guiding private board members to communicate, think, learn and solve problems , helping them quickly achieve personal and corporate growth. Excellent coaches are the key to the success of a private board of directors. Professor Zhang Huai, the leadership mentor of the Nuo King Private Board of Directors, and Yang Tianlin, the CEO coach, are well-known coaches in the industry.
6. Practical principles
Private board committees focus on practical problems and how to solve them. What members discuss and share are practical problems, and what they have to solve in the end are also practical problems. For practical problems, using Socratic dialogue can reveal the key and details of the problem. The final conclusion of the problem is always open-ended, and there is always room for further summary and discussion. 1. Proposal. The coach first asks each member to submit a "proposal": What is the topic to be discussed today? The requirement is that these "moves" must be real issues that are currently plaguing the member.
2. Voting. Members vote to select topics that everyone is interested in, usually by voting, whichever gets the most votes.
3. Explanation. The member who asked the question serves as the "problem owner" and explains the specific problem he or she is facing in detail to each member. Elaboration questions have a standard format: "Do I have _____? This question is important because _____, so far, to solve this problem, I have done _____, what I hope the group can help me is _ ____." The function of this standard sentence pattern is to make the problem clearer, and the "winner" should use this sentence pattern to explain his or her problem.
4. Ask questions. Other members will ask questions to the "question owner" to help him clarify the real problem. At this stage, members can only ask questions, and the "question owner" can only answer the questions and is not allowed to make arbitrary remarks. This part is very challenging and also the most valuable. The coach will guide other members to continuously ask questions, peel off the surface of the problem layer by layer, reach the essence of the problem, dig out the real problems, abandon the false problems, and let the "problem owner" re-clarify the problem. The identification and clarification of the problem is often an important step in solving the problem. Often the thinking becomes clear and the "problem owner" has basically found the answer.
5. Clarification. After the last round of Q&A, the "problem owner" re-corrects the problem he is facing. At this time, the problem is often clearer and more focused than before.
6. Sharing and suggestions. Other members will give specific and actionable suggestions to the "problem owner", preferably based on their own experiences and insights. Providing some practical suggestions to "problem owners" through members' own personal experiences will help them broaden their minds and find new solutions. Trust and camaraderie can also be built through this kind of heart-to-heart discussion.
7. Summary. The "problem owner" summarizes today's discussion, gives the next steps and timetable for improving the problem, and finally expresses what his biggest gains are today and what areas can be improved in the future.
8. Feedback. At the next private board meeting, the "problem owner" will report to the group members on his implementation progress over the past period and seek suggestions for the next step.