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David Tebbs - Mentor, Director and Chairman 

Non-executive Director (NED), Independent  Director and Chairman roles  

With twenty + years experience as a CEO / Executive Chairman and leading consulting companies it was not surprising that the last 20 years work as a non executive director and as an independent chairman have naturally led to David also addressing requirements that are better served as a Mentor rather than as a NED; alongside his many contributions as a NED or chairman.  As a  Director he has had substantial experience of international operations across some 50 counties and he has held board roles in companies located in 8 counties, in 4 continents.  Fuller details on his experience can be seen at David Tebbs .

The role of a non-executive / independent – director or chairman – has many facets from strategic debate, through board decision making, helping the executives, to meeting the requirements of corporate governance.  In some cases there needs to be more emphasis on helping the executives and others in developing individuals or dealing with the investors.   Every director has a responsibility to all the shareholders.  While this sometimes needs to be emphasised in decision making, the core role of a NED is to help the company set and execute an appropriate strategy (or set of strategies) working with and though the executives.  Corporate governance is important both because its part of the rules by which we run business and those intrinsic parts that contribute to effective business direction.  As a non executive director David has filled roles as Chairman, Senior Non-executive Director, and Chairman of Audit, Remuneration and Nomination committees.  David's experience as a NED in public companies led him to recognise the need for easier networking for chairmen and independent directors in the technology /media sector.  Based on this he founded the ITNEA the association for NEDs and chairmen in listed TMT and related companies.

relaxing between mentoring assignments

Independent Mentor - chairman mentoring, director mentoring, and mentoring the CEO

 On occasions the company is well served by its board yet the CEO, Chairman or a director needs advice and guidance in pursuing his role that is separated from the roles of the other directors.  Over recent years this has been developed and more formalised by companies such as Merryck & Co (who address the mentoring needs of larger company CEOs and the CEOs of  large subsidiaries).  David is a member of Merryck & Co's UK advisory board. 

However size of operation does not impact the needs that lead to CEO / Chairman mentoring and coaching.  David’s specific mentoring based projects have been applied more in medium-small listed and in un listed companies.  The need is the same yet the scale may be different.  The essential difference between mentoring in this context and consulting is that the focus is on helping an individual develop and address the issues facing him or her and the business, rather than recommending the solution.  It’s a one on one relationship based on mutual activity, discussion and trust.  It is not the consultant developing recommendations, which is another solution to a similar but different need.  Nor is it a fellow director or chairman advising with conflicts of interest between the board role and that of mentor.

In practical terms mentoring assignments may start clearly as such and on other occasions they develop from a different brief.  Indeed many chairmen include mentoring the CEO and other directors as part of their role.   However there is a clear difference in a relationship where the chairman (with all that that means) is constructively guiding and mentoring a CEO , executive or non executive director and that of an independent mentor providing that service.  In the latter case the individual is the client and his/her needs and rights to confidentiality come before that of the company, even though the fees are usually met by the company. 

On one occasion David was invited to visit a company by its chairman with view to joining board.  After early discussions David proposed that the business needs were best met met by him becoming a mentor to the chairman and also occasional advisor to the board.  {Success was achieved by the team turning a downhill performance into a turnaround and successful trade sale}.   David Tebbs provides his service as an mentor to medium and smaller businesses through David Tebbs Associates serving either as an independent mentor or mentoring in a corporate context.

SMEs and Start Ups

SME's and start ups have similar needs for NED and mentoring support but have much more limited budgets.  David has found ways of meeting both needs by serving in thinner slices of time and on occasions evolving the roll as the business grows either as mentor or as a consultant / director.  An full example of evolution saw initial support on a mentor brief including board attendance, evolving to a director and later as a chairman through to a listing via reverse takeover. This path was pre planned from the first assignment with role changed dependent on progression in the business. Today he regularly supports small businesses along side his larger company practice.  DTA Associates assist in such projects

Marketing Web Sites

Experience on the board of a range of companies drew David's attention to the importance of integrating the business objectives of marketing a company's web site with the practical and technical management of the site.  The experience of his dialogues at board level and practical work with and as web masters was collated into a paper on Marketing Web Sites - a board perspective

Top Tips for 2009  See for interesting video by David Carter, Chairman of Merryck & Co

+44 (0)845 644 7020 

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