Cultivating Your Own Personal Advisory Board

Do you have your own personal advisory board? If this isn’t a term that’s familiar to you – or you instinctively understand the concept but find it odd – you’re certainly not alone. We all have a wide variety of people who provide input into our lives, including colleagues, family, friends, and acquaintances, but our human library is so vast and varied that we don’t tend to think of them as an advisory board. But what if we considered the value of looking to a small group of people on an ongoing basis?

While working with a client a few months ago, she mentioned her “five-person people wheel” – five people who she trusts to play a particular role in her development: manager; mentor; coach; sponsor; and truth-teller. This is an adaptation of a six-person people wheel defined by Amy Philbrook, Executive Vice-President of LPL Financial. Philbrook suggests that we would all be served by identifying and filling the following roles:

1. Mentor. This should be someone you respect who has been a source of wisdom for you in the past and can be a guide when you are at an inflection point. Note: While we’ve talked about short-term micro-mentoring before, this mentor instead might be someone who can inform your development over many years. In most cases, it would be best not to look at your manager as your mentor.
2.  Coach. Philbrook suggests that this role be filled by someone who can help you with very specific skills. More generally, though, a coach uses questions to enable you to set your own goals, identify actions that you are committed to, and assess your own progress. This coach might be seasonal or long term. Again, this should not be your manager.
3. Subject Matter Expert. This is someone who has a lot of experience and information in your field. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything they have to offer – you may even disagree on fundamental philosophical issues – but this person should be trustworthy and give you enough information for you to find your own path forward to learn more.
4. Sponsor. This is someone well-connected in your organization or field who can and will advocate for you; someone who will think of you and suggest your name when opportunities arise that will be a good fit for you (and maybe stretch you in some way).
5. Truth Teller. This should be someone who isn’t afraid of calling you out on your blind spots and mistakes; someone who can give you constructive feedback in ways that you will accept and listen to. Many of us have friends who are considerate and thoughtful when we want to complain; there’s value in that too, but this role should be filled by someone who will challenge you when need be.
6. Reverse Mentor. Similar in some ways to the role of a mentor, the distinction here is that a Reverse Mentor is someone who approaches situations very differently than you do, and will bring perspectives to the table that you might be challenged by, but that you can learn from, even if you choose not to approach it the same way.

To be clear, these aren’t paid roles – in fact, some members of your Personal Advisory Board (or People Wheel) may not know they hold this role for you. Your board may take time to set up, and may need to change over time, but identifying for yourself who those people are and the roles they fill can be enormously helpful.

This Week’s Tip:

• If you don’t already have a Personal Advisory Board, begin to set one up for 2025. Who are the people in your life that would fit the roles of Mentor, Coach, Subject Matter Expert, Sponsor, Truth Teller, and Reverse Mentor? Some may be immediately obvious to you, while some may be more challenging. Some may even need some work to make new contacts (this is common with Subject Matter Experts), or by being willing to lean into closer contact with people you find challenging (Truth Teller and Reverse Mentor).

• If you do have a Personal Advisory Board already, consider how closely they match the roles as described here, and whether any changes are needed at this point in your life and your career. What other roles have you found helpful? We’d love to hear from you.

Try these out this week, and let us know how it goes. We’d love to hear from you!

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