Paula describes her atypical path to her first corporate board position with the American Automobile Association, which came through happenstance and relationships. She focuses on doing her job well on boards rather than worrying about acceptance from other members.
Paula emphasizes the importance of listening and understanding board culture in order to influence and achieve the company’s goals. She says board service helped develop her collaborative side. Paula advocates for increasing board size and instituting term limits to improve diversity.
Regarding the outlook for Black representation over 5 years, she says it’s important to take advantage while DEI initiatives are prominent, though these movements follow an arc. Paula notes the lack of evidence that businesses will improve diversity on their own. She focuses on the need for performance once new members are on boards and providing support to overcome imposter syndrome.
Paula stresses the value of allies and mentions her tactic of taking male board members to lunch. She sees board service as an opportunity to enjoy working as a group to do the best work. In summary, Paula focuses on listening, understanding board culture, achieving company goals, increasing diversity through larger boards and term limits, performing well once on boards, and providing support. Her advice is to focus on the company’s North Star, not on acceptance, while enjoying the collaborative work.
