Daniel Henry, Boardsi COO

Daniel Henry’s short Bio: Daniel Henry, co-founder, and COO of Boardsi, is an executive recruitment expert with over 20 years of experience at the C-level. He played a key role in developing the proprietary systems at Boardsi that enable companies to easily identify the most qualified Boards of Directors and Advisors from a vast pool of elite executives in the U.S. and abroad.

1. Can you tell us about the history of your company and how it has grown and evolved over time? Boardsi is a modern-day recruiting company that specializes in placing high-level executives on boards and helps companies at the board level and the advisory level. The founders of Boardsi saw a hole in the market and have done a tremendous job of filling the void. You can learn more about Boardsi at https://boardsi.com
2. What inspired you to become a leader in your industry? Seeing that there was not a reliable solution in recruiting at this level. Neither side of the business that we work in, (The executive or the business side) had a reliable solution to a painstaking problem.
3. Can you describe your leadership style and the management philosophy you follow? I try to lead by example and know every aspect of the business. Knowing you can fill in at any role and answer most questions in any department makes you a valuable resource within the organization.
4. How does your company differentiate itself from competitors in the industry? We are recruiting for more companies at the board and the advisory level than any other company in the world.
5. Can you discuss any notable challenges or obstacles your company has faced, and how were they overcome? The most difficult part of this industry is finding the companies that could utilize our service. While building out the Boardsi platform. We put a lot of time and resources into ensuring that we built a company that delivers at a high level, this is where many of our competitors in the industry failed.
6. Can you speak to any recent or notable projects or initiatives your company has undertaken? Boardsi has been creating an online education platform for their clients to become Boardsi certified. This platform will go through the basics of the boardroom to the more advanced parts of the board process.
7. How does your company approach employee development and career advancement? We try to hire from within as much as we can when we look at advancement throughout the organization. Our employee retention rate is quite high and we know that positive employees create positive results.
8. Can you discuss any notable partnerships, collaborations, or investments that your company has been involved in? Boardsi is always creating new opportunities for their clients. In addition to the education platform we also will be releasing our boarddoc building team in early Q1.
9. How does your company approach corporate social responsibility and sustainability? We don’t just talk the talk in regard to social responsibility. Our private network of executives that we represent is a diverse group of the most talented individuals.
10. Can you talk about any awards or recognition your company or yourself as a leader have received? We have been in the INC 500 best companies to work for over the past few years and our CEO Martin Rowinski was awarded World CEO of the year in 2022 by CEO Rankings, Passion Vista “Men leaders of 2022”, a guest speaker at the Hope Global Forum, Boards was awarded the BIz Hybrid award and Inc’s 2022 Power Partner award, just to name a few.
11. How does your company stay innovative and adapt to changes in the industry? It is important to listen to the needs of your clients. We are always learning and we have a great foundation at Boardsi but the needs and wants of the clients are always changing so it is important to not only stay on top of them but to follow through with action.
12. Can you discuss any plans for future growth or expansion for the company? We have been discussing opening brick-and-mortar locations in Europe and Asia to give us an even stronger international presence.
13. How does your company approach diversity, equity, and inclusion? Not only do we take this seriously within our own organization, we also stress the importance of all the companies we interact with.
14. Can you describe a particularly challenging situation you faced as a leader, and how you overcame it?  One of the biggest challenges we have faced as leaders are making sure that our staff and clients are educated on the importance of change. This industry like many others is constantly changing, which makes it that much more important to be knowledgeable with what is going on in the industry.
15. How do you approach decision-making and problem-solving as an executive? Ensuring that you have the right people around you to bounce ideas off so the decision is universal and the right one.
16. How do you foster a culture of innovation and creativity within your organization? Having the right people in the right places is the first step and as long as you support change and creativity as part of your culture we have found that we are always ahead of the curve.
17. How do you balance the needs of your employees with the needs of the organization as a whole? You have to listen and react as needed. If you listen to your employees’ needs, many times they echo the needs of the organization.
18. How do you handle and manage conflicts within your team? Patience is the key. Listening and learning where the conflict is derived from and why it is there can help make sure that the conflict doesn’t inflate and can help eliminate future conflict.
19. How do you stay up-to-date with industry developments and trends? Being the leader in the industry we have to make sure that we are constantly learning but being the leader in an industry also allows you to make the trends so it is important to lead by example.
20. How do you approach leadership development and mentorship within your company? Many of the leaders in the company have been with Boardsi since its inception. The culture has been successful because the team has embraced their roles and are willing to pass their wealth of knowledge on.
21. Can you discuss a time when you had to make a difficult or unpopular decision and how did you handle it? There have been times where we have been approached by companies that may not have as high of ethical standards that we strive to have where we have walked away from even though it would have financially benefited the company.
22. How do you ensure that your organization is able to adapt and evolve in an ever-changing business environment? To be an innovator you have to be the change. As i mentioned earlier, being the leader in your industry is a huge responsibility and there isn’t a roadmap to success. You have to be the trailblazer.
23. How do you approach work-life balance as an executive? It is difficult to juggle a work-life balance and turning it off. I have had troubles with this in the past and I am constantly working on this. I have had trouble turning off work mode. There are certain things that I do on my drive home to lower the intensity from breathing exercises to listening to classical music. I like routines as well so when I get home I try to exercise right off the bat. All of these little routines have helped me become more balanced.
24. How do you measure and evaluate the success of your leadership and the performance of your team? It is easy to measure success from a spreadsheet and of course, we evaluate based on numbers but our retention rate of employees is a testament to our success and our leaders.