a16z Podcast

a16z Podcast: The Truth about Serving on Boards

Marc Andreessen and Diane Greene

Posted March 20, 2015

 

Diane Greene — who is on the boards of Google and Intuit — has some golden rules when it comes to serving on boards. No 1: “You don’t want to tell them how to do strategy, whether it’s a big company or a small company,” she says. “That’s not your job. Your job as a director is to ask questions.” Lots of questions.

In this segment of the a16z Podcast, a16z’s Marc Andreessen and VMware co-founder and former CEO Diane Greene have a candid conversation about their experiences on boards from the perspective of both company founders and board directors. “I’ve almost never seen a problem that couldn’t be solved by better communication and consistency,” Greene says. That’s rule No. 2.

[This talk took place as part of a training program in corporate governance that a16z organized with the Director’s College at Stanford on March 5, 2015.]

More About This Podcast

The a16z Podcast discusses the most important ideas within technology with the people building it. Each episode aims to put listeners ahead of the curve, covering topics like AI, energy, genomics, space, and more.

Learn More