I first heard of the Personal Board of Directors term when I was working on my 9–5 job in corporate America. I learned about mentors, sponsors and the sounding board needed to help me grow in my career.
All of these terms sounded new and exciting! But without a consistent and intentional approach, I knew it would be hard to keep up developing the relationships with my mentors and colleagues.
Every relationship should be nurtured intentionally.
Then, in a conversation with one of my mentors, he asked me if I had ever created my own Personal Board of Directors. I said: “Personal what?”. “No, I am not a company”, and I laughed. He said: “Well, you should treat your career as a company and invest in yourself every time you can”. And continued: “Be intentional about developing relationships with people that can listen to you, give you honest feedback, and help you develop”.
What’s a Personal Board of Directors?
A Personal Board of Directors is a group of individuals who can provide you with guidance, support, and advice to an individual in their personal and professional life.
You typically choose these individuals and can include mentors, peers, friends, family members, and colleagues.
The purpose of a Personal Board of Directors is to help the individual achieve their goals, provide feedback, and hold them accountable. They can also provide perspective and help the individual navigate challenging situations.
The Director's Roles
The first role is The Sponsor, an influential person who can help accelerate your career and put you forward for opportunities.
The second person is The Peer, somebody on your team or in a similar role who understands your current situation and what you are working on; they can be your sounding board (note: a sounding board is a person or group whose reactions to suggested ideas are used as a test of their validity or likely success before they are made public).
The Connector is the third person you want to have in your board of directors. It is someone that knows everyone and loves to make introductions and connections.
The fourth person is The Voice of Reason, somebody who knows you well, is honest with you and can give you objective advice. It shouldn't be someone from your family (unless they have a professional relationship with you).
And the last and fifth person is The Aspiration: a person you admire. Someone that has a skillset, a role or a trait that you want to learn from, and may be in a role or organization you could see yourself in one day. It doesn't need to be someone within your organization, but maybe you worked in the past, or someone that The Connector can help you get introduced to.
You may have different roles in mind – make sure your PBoD works for you!
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