“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Jim Rohn
Take a moment and reflect on the people you spent time with this week in work, social settings and even in passing. How did you feel after those interactions? The people we spend our time with each day matter, not just to our mood but to our personal and professional development and ultimately our success.
What is a Personal Board of Advisors?
This is a curated group of people that are sought after to provide targeted support for the parts of your life where you wish to grow. For example, an Advisor can be for career growth or spiritual well-being. Or, perhaps the Advisor exhibits an admirable character trait that you want to emulate such as excellent listening skills or being empathetic.
Essentially, your Board is comprised of a hand-selected group of Advisors that have the experience, values, or subject matter expertise that you strive to develop or emulate.
No two Boards are alike, and your Board may evolve over a lifetime as your circumstances and goals change. What is important is to focus on self-awareness and gain clarity on what your goals are then assemble Advisors that can help you achieve those goals.
The Growth Framework: a three-step Approach to Build a Personal Board of Advisors
Step 1: Assess
Assessment is the first step to building your Personal Board of Advisors. It can be difficult to choose Advisors if you don’t know what you need advice on, which is why introspection is vital. Self-reflection can take many forms. It could be journaling or reading books from inspirational authors like Brené Brown or Tony Robbins. Many people also have a spiritual component to self-reflection which may be found in prayer, meditation or the likes.
While Assessment is the initial step, it truly is an exercise of continuous evaluation. The reason is circumstances in life change, and so adapting to change should be embraced, not shied away from. Once a comfortable level of Assessment is reached and you can clearly articulate the goal you’re trying to achieve, the next step is to work on Assembling the Board.
Step 2: Assemble
Assembling the right Advisors is the second step of the framework. Consider people you’re already connected to or have a relationship with. Advisors can range from someone you admire from afar to your closet friends. In my experience, Advisor invitations are more quickly accepted by those that you have a closer relationship with.
This doesn’t mean that potential advisors will say no if you don’t have a personal relationship with them, or that you’ll always be accepted by those that you do know well. The goal is to focus on a high probability of success with building the Board. Then, with momentum established, consider trying for an Advisor that you do not have an established relationship with. Because no two Advisors are alike, the meeting cadence, longevity of the relationship and other relationship factors will vary. Allow the relationship with Advisors to be as unique as the Advisors themselves.
Step 3: Act
Taking Action is the final step of this three-step approach, and it comes in many forms. For example, you may need to spend time building a relationship as a lead-up to asking someone to be your Advisor. Meetings with your Advisors are another form of action. And, the most important action is to implement the advice given by the Advisor that best resonates with you. Remember, an Advisor is just that: an advisor.
In Summary
In studying the stories of multiple successful people, they frequently cite the support they had around them as a key to their success. This article will serve as the high-level overview of the framework which can be summarized as: Assess what you need, Assemble the resources and take Action.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be publishing additional articles that dig into each of these three steps and share the resources and thought process that I have found so valuable in my work. I believe strongly in the power of this framework and look forward to hearing how it works for you.
This article was also published to LinkedIn here.
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