Yesterday, I dropped an email to six friends asking for their advice on something I’m working on. I set out what I intended to do, my plans behind it, and my hopes rolling forward. They were wonderfully informative, challenging, and useful to what I needed. The value of a personal advisory board is more than I can express. You probably do this without thinking, but if you haven’t had the idea before, here’s what I do.
It Helps to Have Smart Friends
I’m lucky to have lots of friends with diverse jobs and experiences. I know legal experts, church pastors, software developers, entrepreneurs, artists, small business experts, musicians, actors, people from several countries, and certainly from all kinds of backgrounds. Obviously, the more successful your friends are, the better advice they can give you, so having some true winners in your circle is useful. (But then again, don’t discount people who fail successfully, as Becky McCray might tell you.)
Ask Clear Questions
I try hard to do all the legwork of my questions. I start with where I am with things, what my hope is, and what I know already. That way, I can get some of the legwork out of the way so that my friends can advise me understanding my mindset around what I’m asking. The better the questions, the better the help you receive back.
Be Available for Them
Don’t forget that it’s a two-way street. Make sure you’re available to give your friends advice when they ask. Give some kind of value back to the equation. And make sure they know that they matter to you even when you’re not asking them for advice.
Be Sparing
Don’t lean on your friends all the time. It goes from them feeling helpful to them feeling burdened. It’s up to you to understand how often is too often, but you’ll figure it out. The more sparse the response to your questions, the more likely you’re not really in a healthy balance.
Use the Advice
In my example from yesterday, I went against the naming advice I was given, but only because everyone’s great ideas gave me a better sense of why I picked what I picked. But the OTHER advice, I took it all and will run with it. It strengthened me. I have some GREAT friends for knocking my head into the right place.
Do You Do This?
Do you already do this? Is this the way you move through life? Have you read about other people using their own advisory boards? Maybe they use other terms, but I’m curious how this exists out in the wild. (Wild=”everywhere outside my head.”) Share your thoughts.
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Photo credit, Jon Swanson