When Daphne Jones was a high school student in Dolton, Ill., in the mid-1970s, her guidance counselor told her to put college out of her mind. He implied that Black girls didn’t get degrees, Jones recalls in her book, Win When They Say You Won’t: “Oh, Daphne, girls like you don’t go to college,” he told her. “They become secretaries.”
Jones did go to secretary school. Then, after landing a plum secretary job, she followed her instincts and went to college, eventually getting an MBA. She rose through the ranks at Johnson & Johnson and various other firms, eventually becoming the chief information officer at GE Healthcare Global Services.
Today, at age 65, she sits on the board of three companies: AMN Healthcare, a staffing firm with a market cap of $5.2 billion; Barnes Group, an aerospace manufacturer worth $2.1 billion; and Masonite International, a maker of doors with a $1.6 billion valuation. Fortune asked her how she made the jump from the executive ranks to the boardroom.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Fortune: The first public board you joined was at Masonite International in 2018. How did you find your way there?
Daphne Jones: Winning begins in the mind. The first decision that I had to make was, “You know what? I want to be on a board.” After presenting to boards and sitting on nonprofit boards, I made that decision.
The next question was, “Well, now how do I do that?” I wasn’t quite sure, but geese learn from geese, and tigers learn from other tigers, so I said I’ll learn from people who are already on boards. I had to find out how they got on their boards and see if I noticed a pattern in what they did.
One thing I realized was that I had to become discoverable on social media. My LinkedIn profile read like I was an operator, and when you get to be on a board, you’re not an operator anymore, you’re somebody who has perspective, somebody who asks strategic questions.
Then I had to understand what boards did: I call it “knowing the assignment.” I had to be prepared to ask a board questions based on what I believed their challenges were. Are they worried about ESG? Are they worried about activist investors? Cyber?
One day, I was called by somebody who knows me well, who said, “Daphne, do you want to go on a board?” I’m like, “Is the sky blue?”
How does someone prepare for that first interview?
You should know why you want to be on a board. For me, I want to be able to speak truth to power, and I want to empower the underserved and overlooked. The power is the CEO, and the power is senior leaders and other board members. I will speak truth about technology, I will speak truth about cyber, and I will speak truth about diversity and inclusion. I was able to speak to senior leaders about the George Floyd murder and how they should be talking to their people, their employees, and showing empathy for how they must feel.
What advice do you have for others who aspire to join a board?
Understand what your superpower is. Maybe it’s “I know how to take companies public,” or “I've done 12 M&As in my career.”
Then be able to relate that to outcomes. It’s not just, “I opened a manufacturing facility.” What about it?
You’ve also got to know business and finance. You have to understand the business and be a business leader first and then be a functional leader. Being an IT expert is great, but you don’t lead with that in your interview. You lead with the business challenges that the board may be facing.
It’s also about networking. You want to expand your pie by going outside of your company, outside of your friendship zone, and start writing blogs or tweets and letting people know about you. Do a presentation at some industry-level event. Get yourself to be known and find people that are already on board who can be in your corner and look out for you.
When they get the phone call to be on a board, they’ll say, “Well now, I’m already over-boarded. But I know Daphne’s available, and she’s amazing.”
Lila MacLellan
lila.maclellan@fortune.com
@lilamaclellan
