Building Your Personal Board of Advisors

One of the most consequential decisions you will make in your career is not which job to take or which company to join. It is who you surround yourself with for counsel. In Make It Happen, I dedicate an entire step to building what I call your Group of Advisors — a personal board of directors assembled deliberately to support your professional and personal growth.

Why You Need Advisors, Not Just Mentors

Mentors are valuable, but the advisory relationship is different. A mentor shares their experience and wisdom from their own journey. An advisor evaluates your specific situation and provides strategic counsel tailored to your circumstances. You need both, but many professionals have mentors and no advisors.

Your Group of Advisors should include five to seven people who collectively provide:

Industry expertise — someone who deeply understands your sector and its trajectory.

Organizational insight — someone who can help you navigate the dynamics of your specific company or type of organization.

Functional depth — someone with expertise in an area where you are developing, such as finance, marketing, or operations.

The outsider perspective — someone from a completely different industry who can see your challenges with fresh eyes.

Personal grounding — someone who knows you well enough to call you out when you are deceiving yourself.

How to Ask

The biggest barrier most people face is the ask itself. Here is the truth: accomplished people are almost always willing to advise others. They remember what it was like to need guidance, and most are honored to be asked. The key is to make the ask specific, respectful of their time, and clear about what you are requesting.

Do not ask someone to be your "advisor" in a vague, open-ended way. Instead, try: "I respect your perspective on organizational leadership. Would you be open to a quarterly conversation — thirty minutes over coffee — where I can run some career questions by you?" Specificity makes the commitment manageable and the relationship productive.

Maintaining the Relationship

Advisory relationships require investment. Come prepared to every meeting with specific questions. Share updates on how you applied their previous advice. Send occasional articles or resources relevant to their interests. Express genuine appreciation. These relationships, when tended well, compound in value over decades.