Building my profile – the advisory roles, the books, the podcast, the credentials – isn’t vanity work; it’s what opens the door before a conversation even starts. When a nomination committee or a founder is evaluating potential directors, a visible, credible body of work does a lot of the trust-building that would otherwise take months of meetings. It also sharpens my own thinking, because writing and speaking publicly forces clarity I wouldn’t reach otherwise. Day to day, it means I spend less time convincing people I’m credible, and more time actually doing the governance work that mandate requires.