 Mary Francis has a simple piece of advice for people who ask her how they can become a non-executive director: you have to work at it. "Boards do not appoint people because they are lovely human beings - they appoint them because they have the relevant experience and ability.  "Talk to headhunters and your other contacts about how you could match what you can offer to what companies or other organisations need. Nobody has a right to this kind of job. Sometimes there is a feeling that you can choose a Ned career just as you can choose any other career, but ... not everybody can walk straight into it."  Francis, who is a Ned at aviva, Cable &amp; Wireless Communications and Centrica, where she is the senior independent director, is used to people wanting to talk to her about this sort of thing - she is, after all, a high-profile woman in the business world - but the speaking invitations have increased since she won two categories in last year's Ned awards - for the FTSE 100 and the overall prize.  "One of the nice things since winning is that I have had more contact with individual people, often women, who are interested in having more of a portfolio career. Very often they ask me how to get their first board appointment, because it is difficult to establish the credibility to secure that first role."  The awards have also increased the number of calls she receives from headhunters, she added.  "The other thing that people ask me is what constitutes a good board. There are three things: the first is an excellent chairman; the second is focusing on big strategic issues rather than trying to second-guess executives on detail; and the third is that, when necessary, they share bad news as well as good at board meetings."  The other key issue on which she is asked to speak is boardroom diversity, particularly how to increase the number of women nonexecutives.  Lord Davies's report and his recommendations - including setting targets of at least 25% by 2015 for FTSE 350 companies - sits alongside executive pay as one of the biggest topics of discussion at boardroom tables over the past 12 months, she said.  Her own views on diversity have changed slightly as the debate has developed. "I started in the camp of 'I have not encountered overt discrimination so what's the fuss about' but actually when you look at the statistics it's shocking that there are so few women on boards," she said. "and it's not just about boards of big companies - it is also about the top of the judiciary, the medical profession and so on.  "I believe that there is an issue and I have been really struck by the effect that Lord Davies has had with his recommendations on targets and public explanation of boards' position on them. Companies that do not have good gender diversity on their boards are really making a big effort to get themselves into better shape in order to be able to report some acceptable progress. although it is sad in a way that it is the recommendations and targets that are driving these changes, they are definitely having an effect."  Francis is pleased that the changes are happening, but she is still concerned that newly appointed women Neds could be seen as making up the numbers rather than deserving the position in their own right.  "I don't think that this will happen, because I think that there are sufficient good quality women candidates for that not to be the case, but it is a potential danger and I would be really distressed if it did happen."  Ensuring that there continues to be enough good women candidates will take a lot of work as well. Increasing the number of women Neds means that organisations need to increase the number of women in executive leadership positions, which was not something that Davies's report addressed in any depth, she said.  "Getting good candidates depends on there being a deep pool of women who have experience at senior levels in business, the professions and the third sector. You are not going to really change things just at the board level.  "I am not sure that Davies will be enough to make a real difference at executive level. although Lord Davies talked about and looked at executive levels, the main focus was the board, so I feel there is more work to be done. I would like to see more in-depth inquiry into increasing the proportion of women in senior executive positions."  This is not to say she is criticising Davies, she said. Focusing on one aspect of the debate meant that the report was more effective. "You h 