Board Advisor
Kevin McDonnell advises boards and executive teams of many of the world’s most ambitious companies from the world’s largest companies to investors to startups to non-profits.
Kevin McDonnell is a very experienced board advisor who has a track record of guiding boards and mentoring and coaching CEOs and leadership teams to improve performance, raise funding, accelerate pace of growth and deliver significant growth, financial, operational and organisational outcomes.
His speciality is helping leaders accelerate their growth and unlock the potential of their people and organisations. Providing the strategic direction, governance, and leadership needed to deliver significant results.
Current and previous advising clients include a large spectrum of organizations, from small startups to private and public companies to investors to non-profits.
Kevin’s background as a CEO and operator, with 25+ years of experience building, developing and growing high performing, market-leading private and public companies means he is unique in understanding the complexities and challenges of growing businesses. He also brings a cross-industry perspective from AI, Healthcare, Retail, Education, Financial and Technology that helps board members think in new and innovative ways.
As a congenial person who gets along with many different personalities, Kevin provides a friendly, completely independent, yet crucial experiential challenge to leaders that fosters a high performing and engaged culture to help their organisation to grow, thrive and inspire.
His board-level engagements can take many different forms, including:
- Board Advisor to provide the board and leadership team with strategic guidance and hands-on support to execute the strategic aims of the business.
- A hands-on version of a Non-Executive Director that supports strategic direction, leadership, and commercial traction.
- Executive coaching for CEO, C-suite, NEDs and teams.
- Facilitated sessions and off-sites on topics like strategy, business performance, organisational performance, culture and leadership or board effectiveness.
- One-off workshops on future business and market trends or technology trends.
Kevin McDonnell - Executive Coach
Value Creating
A board advisor provides counsel, advice, expertise and support for businesses and their leaders. All businesses can benefit from board advisors and 50 of the Fortune 500, including General Electric, American Express, and Target all have board advisors to support their strategic direction and growth. For many businesses, board advisors deliver significant value that helps guide them to where they want to be.
Kevin McDonnell - Executive Coach
Perspective
One of the greatest advantages that a board advisor can bring to your business is an outside perspective on important issues. Board advisors bring different opinions, perspectives, and experiences than your leadership team which is infinitely valuable. They look at issues like business performance, market trends, and long-term strategy through a different lens and in an unbiased way, helping the business develop faster.
Kevin McDonnell - Executive Coach
Independent
Board advisors bring different opinions, perspectives, and experiences which can help to identify blindspots and problem areas which is invaluable when it comes to strategic planning and execution. As a result, the ability to get an unbiased, outside perspective from knowledgeable board advisors is perhaps one of the key benefits of having board advisors supporting your business to achieve its goals.
Kevin McDonnell - Executive Coach
Network Reach
Having a well-connected board advisor immediately expands your organization’s network and reach and can help you to build or expand your presence in relevant markets. Additionally, your board advisor can utilize their network to help with funding, establishing strategic partners, developing business opportunities, connecting with vendors, and connecting with other experts to accelerate the pace of your growth.
Kevin McDonnell - Executive Coach
Developing Leadership
A board advisor is first and foremost there to support, guide, and advocate for your leaders and executive team. They are able to fill skill and expertise gaps while also developing the skills of your leadership team. A board advisor brings different areas of expertise and experience than your corporate leadership possesses and as a result, they are able to increase the effectiveness of your leadership team.
Kevin McDonnell - Executive Coach
Safe Harbour
A board advisor provides a safe harbour for executives to test-drive strategy and options before they are forced to be more definitive and share with the board of directors. A board advisor can serve as a sounding board for senior executives and to inspire change in cases in which comparable suggestions from the board of directors might suggest a lack of confidence in the senior management team.
Kevin McDonnell - Executive Coach
Credibility
Another way that a board advisor can add value to your organization is by building credibility with investors, clients, and vendors. Having a board advisor instantly gives your business more credibility as it can help build trust with current investors, potential investors, partners and customers. The right board advisor is an effective way to immediately gain credibility with key stakeholders and clients.
Kevin McDonnell - Executive Coach
Driving Growth
More importantly, a board advisor can help your leadership build skills, become more effective and have the best chance of driving your strategy and achieving success. It’s important that your executive team is consistently growing and developing, and a board advisor is an exceptional way for you (as CEO) to demonstrate that you really do care about your executive team’s development and their success.
Contact me and let’s see how as a Board Advisor I can help you achieve your goals.
