Personal Board of Directors

In his book Clear Thinking, Shane Parrish shares the idea of having a personal board of directors. This is the first time I had heard of the idea. I tried to look into and it turns out that it has been around for sometime.

The idea originated from the book Building Career Equity by Jan Torrisi-Mokwa. As this the article explains:

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. - Source: HBR article

This group of people can help you advance in your career. Choosing these people requires to be strategic. This CNBC article gives an example of how to choose 5 people on your personal board of directors.

What I liked about Shane Parrish’s approach, though, is that he argues that you can even include people who are not alive, but whose work inspires you. This way, you hold yourself to high standards because you assume all these people are watching you as you work towards your goals. Additionally, you learn from them by reading what they did and how they did it.