Your Own Personal Advisory Board

The smartest people I know often seek advice from a broad mix of people. Julie Adam at Rogers Media in Canada asks more questions than a Law and Order TV Show detective. Allen Dick of Dick Broadcasting often says, “Educate me about this.” Our own Randy Lane regularly seeks council from inexperienced novices along with wise industry experts.

To start your own personal advisory board, choose 3-5 people whose wisdom you trust. Tell each that you are building an advisory board and ask permission to reach out to them from time to time. Plan to spring for a couple of nice lunches to say thanks later.

Be sure to recruit some doubters. Do not surround yourself with “yes” friends who will only say what you want to hear. Seek those who will speak the truth, then commit to listen to them.

If you want to take this idea to a deeper level, consider Napoleon Hill’s imaginary advisory board. In his 1960 classic book Think and Grow Rich, Hill suggested using an imaginary group of luminaries such as Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford and Charles Darwin.

Choose your own group of wise or creative people. Today that group might include people like Steve Jobs, Oprah, and Professor Dumbledorf. Pose questions in your mind to one of your advisers, and think about how that person might advise you based on their expertise.

Your personal advisory board’s input will give you more confidence in big decisions. Like my decision to spring for a home audio amplifier this weekend. I am certain they will agree that $5000 is a small price to pay for sound quality, but I’m still going to check, just in case.

Photo Credit: flickr.com/photos/cogdog/