Board Services: Building Boards That See What Others Miss
The board isn't just there to govern—it's there to help you transform.
Most companies treat board composition as a compliance exercise: check the boxes for industry experience, functional expertise, diversity requirements. They assemble impressive résumés, hold quarterly meetings, and review past performance.
Then they wonder why strategic discussions feel surface-level, why the board focuses backward instead of forward, and why directors nod politely but don't challenge the assumptions that actually matter.
After 20 years working with boards across the US and Mexico—from Series B startups building their first real board to family businesses navigating generational transitions to cross-border companies bridging two governance cultures—I've learned this:
The boards that add the most value aren't built from the best credentials alone. They're built to balance performance monitoring with future shaping. To challenge thoughtfully without creating dysfunction. To bridge cultural contexts that others don't even recognize as different.
This is board advisory work as strategic architecture, not just director placement.
The Balance That Most Boards Miss
High-performing boards must do two things simultaneously—and most struggle with the tension:
Monitor and manage – Hold management accountable, ensure compliance, protect shareholder interests, review financial performance
Anticipate and shape – Help identify future challenges before they're obvious, guide strategic transformation, ask the questions management isn't asking.
If your board is overly focused on governance, it acts like an anchor slowing down transformation. If it's too concentrated on strategy without accountability mechanisms, it creates risk.
The companies that scale successfully—the ones that navigate major inflections without crisis—have boards that can do both. They balance the need to govern with the need to transform.
Building that balance requires intentionality. It doesn't happen by accident.
What I Do in Board Services
I work with companies to evolve their boards from informal director recruitment to strategic board composition—helping you build diverse, future-ready boards that can both monitor performance today and guide transformation for tomorrow.
This includes four core areas:
Board Composition & Director Search
The challenge: You're hiring for today's gaps without understanding what capabilities you'll need 18-36 months from now. Or you're replicating the same thinking that's already around the table.
Most board searches start with: "We need someone with [specific experience]—SaaS scaling, supply chain expertise, cybersecurity background."
But here's what that misses: Experience tells you what worked last time. The board's job is to help you see what's different this time.
My approach:
I start by understanding your company's strategy over the next 3-5 years. Not just today's challenges, but the inflection points coming. Then we translate that into the capabilities and perspectives your board will need to navigate what's ahead.
This means asking:
- What balance of experiences should exist at the table? (Industry insiders vs. cross-industry thinkers, operators vs. strategic advisors, risk-takers vs. risk-mitigators)
- What's the ideal mix of governing capability and transformational thinking?
- Where does your current board have blind spots relative to where the company is headed?
- For US-Mexico companies: Are you building a board that can actually bridge both governance cultures, or just adding "someone who's done business in Latin America"?
The director search process:
- Define the Director Telemetry™ – Not just what experience is needed, but what capabilities, mindsets, and collaborative styles will complement the existing board while challenging its assumptions
- Strategic sourcing – I identify directors who have demonstrably navigated what you're about to navigate, then assess them against your Director Telemetry™
- Comprehensive assessment – Leadership interviews, market background evaluation, board simulation exercises where relevant. Research shows 80% of a director's ultimate success comes from who they are and how they collaborate, not just what they've done.
- Cultural fit evaluation – Especially critical for cross-border boards. Can this director read unspoken dynamics? Challenge without creating dysfunction? Bridge decision-making styles that differ across markets?
- Board integration – How we onboard new directors determines whether they add value in months one and two or need a year to become effective
Timeline: 90-120 days from Director Telemetry™ development to director appointment. Complex cross-border or highly specialized roles may extend to 150 days.
Our commitment to excellence and diversity has enabled us to match businesses with leaders capable of driving significant value, reinforcing our position as a trusted partner in board search services.
Board Effectiveness Reviews
The challenge: Your board can't see its own blind spots. What gets discussed, what gets avoided, whose voice dominates, whose expertise gets dismissed—these dynamics are invisible from inside the boardroom.
Most board evaluations are satisfaction surveys that produce generic recommendations: "communicate more frequently," "add diversity," "engage earlier on strategy."
That's not a board assessment. That's a checkbox exercise.
Real board effectiveness reviews diagnose the invisible:
- The questions that never get asked – What topics are implicitly off-limits? What assumptions go unchallenged because everyone at the table shares them?
- The dynamics that silence dissent – Who dominates? Who defers? Whose expertise gets heard versus whose gets politely acknowledged, then ignored?
- The composition gaps – Not demographic diversity (though that matters), but cognitive diversity. Is everyone solving problems the same way? Are you missing perspectives that would change how you see the challenges ahead?
- The misalignment with the company stage – Is this a Series A board trying to govern a Series C company? A public company board structure governing a founder-led startup?
My process:
Confidential interviews with every board member, the CEO, and key executives. I'm not asking "how effective is the board?" I'm listening for what's underneath:
- Where do conversations consistently stall or redirect?
- What's everyone aware of but nobody addresses directly?
- Are US and Mexico board members (for cross-border companies) operating with different unstated assumptions about what "consensus" or "accountability" actually means?
- Which directors add genuine strategic value vs. which are along for the ride?
- Is the board composition still aligned with where the company is going, or does it reflect where you were three years ago?
The output isn't a satisfaction report. It's a diagnostic that shows the board what it can't see about itself—with specific, actionable recommendations for composition changes, process improvements, and dynamic shifts.
I also provide optional individual director feedback for those who want to understand how they're perceived and what they could develop to contribute at their full potential.
Timeline: 4-6 weeks from kickoff to presentation of findings and recommendations.
Board Development & Training
The challenge: Most board training teaches compliance—fiduciary duties, governance best practices, committee structures, and regulatory requirements. Important, but insufficient.
The directors who add the most value aren't just the most knowledgeable about governance. They're the ones who can see when a "sales problem" is actually a product-market fit problem. When a "talent issue" is actually a founder transition issue. When a "Mexico expansion challenge" is actually a cultural translation failure.
Development focus areas:
For New Directors:
- How to add strategic value in your first 90 days (vs. waiting a year to "understand the business")
- Reading company dynamics you weren't part of building
- When to challenge and when to support—understanding where boundaries enable performance vs. where they constrain it
- Cross-border board dynamics for US-Mexico companies (if relevant)
- Moving from executive mode to governance mode (different leverage points, different involvement levels)
For Board Chairs:
- Facilitating productive disagreement without creating dysfunction
- Managing board composition evolution as the company scales
- Understanding founder psychology during transitions (when to push, when to build trust slowly)
- Balancing investor demands, founder vision, and operational reality
For Cross-Border Boards (US-Mexico):
- How decision-making differs between US corporate governance and Mexican family business culture
- Building trust across cultural contexts where "relationship-building" means fundamentally different things
- When "consensus" means different things in Guadalajara than in Austin
- Navigating the tension between quarterly metrics (US investor expectations) and longer relationship timelines (Mexican business culture)
Format: Workshops, 1:1 coaching, ongoing advisory depending on need
Board Advisory (Ongoing Strategic Support)
The challenge: Board needs evolve continuously, but most companies only engage board advisors when they're searching for a director or conducting
an evaluation.
Strategic board advisory means working with CEOs and board chairs on an ongoing basis to address:
- Board Evolution Planning
As companies scale from Series A to C, from founder-led to professionally managed, from domestic to cross-border, the board that got you here won't get you there.
When do you add directors? When do you transition directors out? How do you maintain continuity while evolving composition? How do you sequence board changes so each new director sets up the next one for success?
This is long-term succession planning, not reactive seat-filling.
- Founder-Board Dynamics
The most common pattern: founders who struggle to delegate operations also struggle to accept strategic board oversight. They want a board's credibility but get frustrated when directors actually challenge decisions.
I help founders navigate when to listen, when to lead, and when to let the board push back. This connects directly to my Founder's Paradox™ framework—knowing when your involvement as a founder helps versus when it constrains.
- Cross-Border Board Composition (US-Mexico Expertise)
US companies expanding to Mexico often add "a Mexico board seat" without understanding that Mexican family business boards operate relationally (relationship-based decision-making, longer consensus timelines) while US investor boards operate transactionally (quarterly metrics, rapid accountability structures).
Both approaches are valid. But mixing them without translation creates invisible dysfunction.
I help design board structures that honor both governance cultures while creating productive oversight. This isn't about finding "bilingual directors." It's about finding directors who can read unspoken dynamics on both sides of the border.
- CEO Succession & Board's Role
When should the board drive CEO succession versus support founder evolution? How do you build board confidence in a new CEO? What does healthy board oversight look like during leadership transitions versus micromanagement disguised as engagement?
This is where boards either add immense strategic value or create expensive chaos.
Engagement structure: Quarterly advisory sessions, or as-needed depending on board's current challenges
Who This Is For
Board services work best for:
- Series B-C companies building their first real board (beyond friends and early investors)
- Family businesses professionalizing governance while preserving family values and cultural identity
- US-Mexico cross-border companies are building boards that bridge both governance cultures effectively
- Companies in leadership transition where the board needs to evolve alongside management
- Private equity portfolio companies upgrading board composition post-acquisition
- Companies facing board dysfunction that needs diagnosis before director changes
Board services do NOT work for:
- Companies wanting board members who validate rather than challenge
- Founders who view boards as necessary compliance rather than strategic assets
- Organizations unwilling to examine board dynamics honestly
- Boards that prioritize credentials over actual contribution to strategic outcomes
The Cross-Border Advantage
If you're building a board for a US-Mexico business, most board search firms will find you "someone who's done business in Mexico." That's not the same as building a board that can actually function across two governance cultures.
What most firms miss:
Mexican family business governance operates relationally. Decisions emerge through relationship-building over months. "Consensus" means everyone has been heard and relationships are maintained, not that everyone agrees.
US investor governance operates transactionally. Decisions require data, speed, and clear accountability. "Consensus" means alignment on the decision and the metrics that define success.
When you put both on the same board without translation, you get:
- US directors frustrated by "slow Mexican decision-making" (not recognizing relationship-building as part of the decision process)
- Mexican directors uncomfortable with "aggressive US accountability culture" (not understanding rapid iteration as usual, not disrespectful)
- Strategic discussions that stall because both sides are operating from different unstated assumptions about how boards should function
I was born and raised in Guadalajara. I've spent 20 years advising boards and placing executives on both sides of the US-Mexico border. I don't just source directors who've worked in both markets—I identify directors who can read and bridge the cultural dynamics that create dysfunction.
This matters when you're navigating:
- Investor expectations (quarterly) vs. operational realities (relationship timelines)
- Family business succession in Mexican companies with US investors on the board
- US operational discipline meeting Mexican trust-building requirements
- Board discussions where "empowerment" and "accountability" mean fundamentally different things depending on cultural context
Cultural fluency isn't a nice-to-have. It's the difference between a board that functions and one that fights invisible battles.
My Approach vs. Traditional Board Executive Search Firms
Traditional firms:
- Match credentials to board seat requirements
- Source from the same networks repeatedly
- Focus on governance compliance
- Deliver candidates, conduct evaluation, move on
My approach:
- Diagnose what capabilities your board needs for future challenges, not just current gaps
- Source directors across industries for fresh perspectives that complement existing strengths
- Focus on strategic value-add alongside governance effectiveness
- Stay involved through integration, development, and ongoing advisory
I don't build boards by collecting impressive résumés. I build them to balance performance monitoring with transformation shaping—and to actually function when cultural contexts differ.
How We Get Started
I don't take every board engagement. Board work is high-stakes. Getting it wrong is expensive financially and strategically.
Initial conversation (30-45 minutes):
We discuss:
- What strategic challenges will your board face 18-36 months from now?
- What's the current balance between governance focus and transformation focus?
- If cross-border: Are board members actually aligned on how decisions should happen, or are unstated cultural assumptions creating friction?
- What does productive disagreement look like on your board vs. dysfunction?
- Are you building a board to validate a strategy or refine it?
If it's a fit, we move forward with diagnostic work before any search or evaluation begins.
If not, I'll explain why and point you toward better options.
No pressure. Strategic advisory, not sales.
Services at a Glance
Board Composition & Director Search
Future-focused director identification based on Success Profiles. Assessment of leadership, capabilities, collaborative style, and cultural fit (especially cross-border). Integration support for new directors.
Timeline: 90-120 days (150 for complex cross-border or specialized roles)
Board Effectiveness Reviews
Confidential diagnosis of board dynamics, composition gaps, and invisible dysfunctions. Includes individual director feedback (optional). Delivers actionable recommendations, not satisfaction surveys.
Timeline: 4-6 weeks
Board Development & Training
Custom programs for new directors, board chairs, and cross-border boards. Focus on strategic contribution, productive disagreement, and cultural intelligence—not just compliance.
Format: Workshops, 1:1 coaching, ongoing advisory
Board Advisory (Ongoing)
Strategic support for CEOs and board chairs on board evolution, composition planning, founder-board dynamics, cross-border governance, CEO succession planning.
Engagement: Quarterly or as-needed
Why Work With Me
20+ years advising boards and placing executives at C-suite and board levels
Deep cross-border expertise – Born and raised in Guadalajara, decades bridging US-Mexico governance cultures
Proprietary frameworks –The Director Telemetry™️, Founder's Paradox™, The Tire Compound Strategy™️, The Track Limits Principle™, and The Stewardship Protocol™ all apply to board dynamics
AESC membership – Professional standards through the Association of Executive Search Consultants (Alder Koten member firm)
Strategic advisory positioning – I challenge assumptions and diagnose what's underneath, not just fulfill requests
Integration focus – Board effectiveness isn't just about who you add. It's about how they integrate and contribute from day one.
Ready to Build a Board That Transforms?
If you're building your first real board, evolving board composition as you scale, navigating cross-border governance, or wondering why your board feels more like oversight than strategic partnership—let's talk about what your board actually needs.
Build a Board That Sees What Others Miss
If you're building your first real board, evolving composition as you scale, or wondering why your current board feels more like oversight than strategic partnership—let's map what patterns of thinking you're missing. The boards that add the most value aren't built from the best résumés. They're built from the right combination of perspectives.
Schedule a Board Strategy Call30-minute conversation. No pitch. Just pattern recognition applied to your board.
