Why You Need 'Your Personal Board of Directors'

An unbiased group that focuses on the business & brand of YOU? Yes Please.

That moment when genius hits.  Well, if not Einstein caliber, then at least a massive ‘aha.’  Mine was in 2020, silver kicks dancing under the table to her stilettos. She said it so nonchalantly, so banaly, as if it was as inherently simple and obvious as brushing your teeth.  The soundwaves of her words first resonated within my eardrums, and almost immediately after, their power enveloped my brain.  

The answer I had been looking for over the last two decades, presented to me on a silver platter, with no more gravitas than had she said she was brushing her teeth.  That is how essential it is. 

Your Personal Board of Directors (YPBD).

Genius. 

The second she said it, ‘Your Personal Board of Directors,’ my mind started whirling in the best of entrepreneurial ways, possibilities sprouting at every bend, excitement building with every turn, and throughout it all, my Italian hands flying with ideas.  And yet, when she pressed me to accept being on her Personal Board of Directors, I knew I could not.  This concept, this ‘aha’ borderline ‘duh’ moment could not be for me; it had to be for all of us.  

What is Your Personal Board of Directors (YPBD)?

Think of YPBD as the Board of Directors of a company, but instead all for you. That’s right.  Eight to ten people solely focused on the brand and business of you.  

Like any other Board, the members of YPBD are hand selected with varied skill sets so as to enhance the performance of the business and maximize the venture’s success.  The business and venture being your life. 

Who makes up Your Personal Board of Directors (YPBD)?

The most critical element to composing YPBD is what we refer to as ‘Diversity of Thought.’  Cross industries, cross levels.  This adds a fourth dimensional depth to the guidance and perspectives you receive.  

No more echo chambers.  Just straight up, real insight from people that have walked the walk and talked the talk, like you.

How is Your Personal Board of Directors (YPBD) different from mentors, executive coaches, or friends and family?

Let’s be real - mentorship is hard to manage.  A coffee here, an email there.  A crisis call on that blue moon.  But where do you go to on a regular basis to present all the challenges and opportunities that arrive every minute of every day?  Furthermore, who can you turn to that is truly unbiased? 

Executive Coaches have a method, and often an agenda.  Family and friends are inherently biased in their guidance even if they mean the best.  While we are encroaching on the topic, a social group is just that, social, with little structured time to actually help you get ahead.  And while networking groups often seem to be the answer, they most often reroute you back to that one off coffee here, email there.

All the while, YPBD exists, evolving and ready just for you in a structured, unbiased, focused fashion.

When is YPBD a success?

Our societal obsession with quantifying data and metrics often leads us to miss the big picture.  Furthermore, each person’s definition of success changes every day, and perhaps even more drastically every one to three years.   Which is precisely why and how YPBD is vital.  

YPBD is built to evolve and grow with you, through the ups and the downs, the ‘oops’, the ‘oh no’s’ and the ‘hoorays’.  In fact, Professionals who go at it alone receive fewer (and smaller) salary increases and get promoted less frequently than the people who consult with an unbiased pack. According to the Harvard Business Review, CEOs who had formal, consistent mentors resembling a YPBD overwhelmingly reported they were able to avoid costly errors, get up to speed faster, and make better decisions overall.

Will you succeed without YPBD? Of course.  It just may be on the scenic route, a route that YPBD could instead help propel you through, unscathed and ready for whatever goals and dreams of yours lay ahead. 

YPBD is the answer we have always been looking for in the place we all forgot to look - ourselves.  Go get yours now.

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