Want to Advance in Your Career? Build Your Own Board of Directors. When you start out in your career, it’s normal to look for guidance as you figure things out. One of the strategies that can help is creating your career board of directors. This board is an expansive network of individuals who act as independent advisers to you. Each director in your career board should specialize in a different aspect.

Want to Advance in Your Career? Build Your Own Board of Directors.
When you start out in your career, it’s normal to look for guidance as you figure things out. One of the strategies that can help is creating your career board of directors. This board is an expansive network of individuals who act as independent advisers to guide your path.

When you’re new to the workforce, these questions are hard to answer — especially when things are uncertain. You may lack the information necessary to make a confident decision. You may be unsure of what the “next steps” look like. You may even require more time to figure out your core values. Knowing what you want and how to get it takes trial and error. Early on, you likely need a bit of help.

You need a career board of directors.

The concept, originally proposed by Jan Torrisi-Mokwa in her book, Building Career Equity, differs from having multiple mentors.

Traditionally, a mentor is a senior colleague or professional whose work you deeply admire. You may want to emulate their leadership style, learn from their experience, or follow in their footsteps. Mentorships are often formal, one-on-one relationships that can require a significant time commitment.

A career board of directors, on the other hand, is a more expansive network of individuals who act as independent advisers to you. Just as a company looks to its board for guidance, these people are there to offer you support in a broader sense. Each director usually specializes in a different area: a great manager, a skilled writer, a savvy freelancer, a wise parent, a compassionate friend, a talented peer, and so on. As such, each is able to offer you advice specific to their expertise.

The goal is to put together a group of people with experiences completely distinct from your own who can offer you a fresh perspective when needed. You can reach out to them with smaller asks than you would a mentor — though, over time, a few of them may grow into that role.

Made up of up to six professionals in your age group, a personal board of directors is designed to act as a sounding board. They are meant to advise you and provide you with feedback on your life decisions, opportunities, and challenges. More importantly, they should be people who are in your corner and can provide thoughtful and measured insight about you and for you. Oftentimes, these are feedbacks you do not necessarily get from colleagues or friends.

Having a personal board of directors can help gather much-needed differing perspectives to help guide your career, from finding jobs to navigating work-life balance to landing important promotions. They can help you refine your goals and strategize about ways to achieve them.

But after all that is said and done, how can you build your very own personal board of directors? Join us as our speakers provide you with tips on how to assemble an effective personal board of directors, conduct check-ins with and maintain a mutually-beneficial relationship with your board members, and know when to disband an ineffective board.