How to Build Your Personal Advisory Board

Make leaps with those invested in your success.

“Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.” ~ Helen Keller

Frodo Baggins. King T’Challa. Katniss Everdeen. What do these storied characters have in common?

Their squad.

Each of them had a big job to do and got it done – but not without input from their group of trusted advisors and collaborators.

Here’s the thing about embarking on a journey to change things for the better: you’re not alone. While there will most definitely be periods of time when you have to just put your head down and do the work based on your own vision, many core components of what you’re building as an innovator have been tackled by others. Here are some examples:

• The fundamentals of a strategic plan to go from idea to reality

• How to spread the word about your venture and connect with community

• How to raise funding for your concept

• How to develop a resilient mindset to get over hurdles

Several years ago, I came across small business coach and brilliant community builder, Pamela Slim. In that time, Pam has taught me an incredible amount on leadership, building community (there are a few of us still connected just because of her — aka the #Pamily), overcoming obstacles in business and getting things done. In one of our conversations (and what she mentions quite a bit to the innovators & entrepreneurs she works with) is the power of having your own Jedi High Council.

Now for those of you who aren’t Star Wars fans and don’t know who the Jedi are, let me break this down a bit more: as someone who is working hard on changing the future of health (or climate change, education, etc.), you’re going to want to have advisors that help you make it successfully to your destination. Now, to be clear, this personal advisory board is different than putting together a team that works on your venture directly with you. These are people that are committed to your personal growth while also being aligned with the important work you’re doing.

Here are 4 ways to make it happen:

1. Get Clear on 1-2 Areas of Growth: the clearer you are on how you want help from your advisors, the better off you’ll be. This helps you get started mapping out the growth areas to the work you’re doing and in turn, will make the selection process more effective. Whether these areas are around mindset, career coaching, balancing family or networking — make sure to have a clear way of describing what you’re working on as well. This will help you to help them understand how to best support you. This is always a winning plan when connecting with often busy leaders who genuinely want to help.

2. Quality vs Quantity: if there is one important thing that I’ve learned over the years, it’s that it will be a lot harder for you to execute on your goals when you have too many things to do. Often times it is a self inflicted (toxic) busyness ethos that moves us in this direction. Take it from someone who consistently thought being busy and constantly ambitious was not only a badge of honor but also my identity (yeah I see you nodding your head, whew!). This means saying yes to things that are not mission critical or having too many people giving you advice. When gathering an advisory team to bolster your momentum, you want to keep it to a handful of people but also that these people have the life experiences to pull from. They have been through the ups and downs of building something and have successfully made it to the other side. Remember, if less is more, you want to make sure each person has something of high quality to offer that will push your growth forward & help you to avoid missteps. Which leads us to the next point.

3. Diversify Your Portfolio: while you’re solving a pain point on a specific issue or in a field that you have established yourself in (for me it’s healthcare/public health), the people you look to for advice do not all need to belong in that space. As a matter of fact, I would highly encourage you to select members from outside of the circles you are used to being in. By diversifying your personal advisory board, you get the benefit of fresh ideas and insights that can totally give you a new perspective on your work. Don’t be afraid to mix it up.

4. Dig Into Your Network: with platforms like LinkedIn and Slack communities, it’s gotten much easier to visualize the people you’ve connected with in the professional world. Are you looking to get smarter at business execution? See if you’re linked with an executive that has the experiences you’re looking for. Is global health something you’re zeroing in on with your work? Find someone who has worked in various countries. Often times with your advisory board, these won’t be cold introductions (aka you have some degree of connection) so let that work in your favor.

There you have it! Now is the perfect time to start the ball rolling on this. Start making those leaps and bounds with the right rocket boosters by your side. Don’t forget to also think about sending out updates to them (maybe once a quarter) alongside of one-on-one catch ups.

Here are some book recommendations that can help on this journey:

Body of Work and The Widest Net — Pamela Slim

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There — Marshall Goldsmith

Four Thousand Weeks — Oliver Burkeman

Have any success stories of building your own personal advisory board? Have specific questions? Helpful? Chime in and let me know.