Your Buddy Board

This week I’ve been writing about some amazing scholars that I look up to.

Now let’s talk about you.

Let’s talk about your personal board of directors.

In business, the board of directors is a group that takes a broader overview perspective in helping to guide and steer an organization. I’ve had experience on a couple of boards so I can promise you that a board is deeply invested in the success of an organization. Its members often come from the outside, contributing wisdom, work, and wealth to the success of the company.

You, too, can have a board of directors of your very own, to help guide your career. I know I do. In fact, we are going to talk about your TWO Boards. The first, we’ll call your B-Board. Your Buddy Board. The second we’ll talk about tomorrow, your A-Board. “A” is for aspirational.

So first let me give you an example, who’s on my board of directors. This is made up of people that I know, that I could literally call up and talk to or message if I needed immediate input. My wife. My dad. My mom., My best friend. Several trusted friends and colleagues at my current job. And a couple colleagues from my previous job, whose mentoring intervention saved my career and inspired what I’m doing with you right now.

That’s my group, my Buddy Board. I often ask for advice from them for real, but more often, in my own head. Sometimes their different perspectives aren’t in agreement. And that’s how a group works. It can get loud in there.

That’s a great thing about my board of directors that in real life, they have my best interest at heart, and vice versa. So when it comes to challenging personal and professional situations, I don’t have to look that far for advice. I just look inside and sometimes outside.

Who is on your Buddy Board?

Tomorrow we’ll talk about you’re A-Board, your Aspirational Board of Directors.

See you then!