A few months into my board journey, I keep hearing the same thing from seasoned directors: “We need more diverse experiences in the boardroom.”

At first, I thought that was just people being nice to me and others coming into the game with a scaling and tech/ops background.

Turns out, there is real substance there.

Here is what I am seeing play out: while a startup might not need heavy compliance expertise and a mature company might need less early-stage consulting, both desperately need advisory grounded in real, diverse battle scars. If you really want to feel like you are moving the needle, bring directors with breadth of experience walking alongside leadership through the messy scaling journey.

Your board becomes your built-in consulting team: Why pay external consultants when your directors already have the specific knowledge for those HR headaches or strategy pivots? I have watched boards able to tackle the problems on the ground because someone at the table had already lived through it.

Big decisions need people who have made big decisions: If you have never navigated a major growth investment—real money, real stakes—having someone who has is game-changing. The complexities and risks of scaling are not theoretical when you have actually been there.

Growth is messy, pivots happen: Organizations never grow in straight lines. Having board members who have led significant pivots or responded to market shocks brings that steady “we have seen this movie before” guidance when things get chaotic.

Most of us nod along when we hear “board diversity matters.” But I am curious—what has your actual experience been with diverse scaling expertise in the boardroom?

Bruno Monfils,
CEO Excellence Consulting