Grow Like a CEO: Build Your Personal Board of Directors & Be Strategic About Your Mentors
The best personal brands don’t beg for a seat at your table - they create their own table and move with the confidence of those they respect most.
Conventional ‘find a mentor’ advice can be boring, predictable and unhelpful. I prefer to encourage my personal brand coaching clients to assemble a Personal Board of Directors.
A good board helps a CEO run a business better. The board brings perspective, experience, challenges assumptions and keeps the CEO accountable to the bigger picture. So what if you approached your own career in the same way? And acted more like the CEO of Brand You.
Your Personal Board of Directors is a carefully curated group of people you can draw on for their expertise, guidance, inspiration and support as you navigate your career and ambitions. They don't even have to know they're on your board - you can practise a visualisation technique that feels like they are.
Research supports the idea of having more than one mentor. Career researchers Monica Higgins and Kathy Kram describe this as a developmental network: multiple relationships that provide different forms of career and personal support, rather than relying on a single mentor. Research has found that these networks can provide everything from career advice to coaching, role modelling and psychosocial support. In other words, you don't necessarily need one perfect mentor. You need a constellation of people who can play different roles in your development.
So, as CEO of your personal brand, who deserves a seat at your table?
1. Invisible Council Visualisation: Think & Grow Rich
Napoleon Hill’s cult classic Think and Grow Rich popularised the idea of ‘invisible counsellors’. Hill refers to his nightly routine of gathering ‘counsel members’ - mentally, that is. The visualisation technique allowed Hill to meet with his greatest inspirations for guidance.
Do you have people in your own network you consider a mentor but for your own reasons haven’t wanted to formalise the relationship? Do you have individuals you admire from afar but have never met? Have you learned from great minds or close relationships that are no longer with you? The idea of an invisible council allows you to access their thinking without popping the “Will you mentor me?” question, or having to have physical access to someone. It challenges you to use your imagination and visualisation capabilities to ask what they would do.
Like Hill, add a Personal Board of Directors visualisation to your routine. This might be in the form of:
A 5-minute Monday morning visualisation
A weekly nightly visualisation
‘Consulting’ with your board on your commute home
A set monthly ‘board meeting’ meditation
For more on the power of visualisation, see my earlier blogs:
Through books, social media, videos, podcasts, interviews, articles and your own experience and memories, you have more access to other people’s ideas than ever. Consider:
Subscribing to your mentors’ newsletters, YouTube channels, or podcasts
Follow their social media, both their polished and behind-the-scenes content
Read their books
Study their interviews
Purchase their online programs
As I’ve shared in my blog, I Read 150 Books a Year. These are the 10 I Keep Coming Back To, The 10x Rule is one of my favourite development books. One of my biggest takeways from the book was that if you are going to emulate anyone, emulate those succeeding on the world’s biggest stage, instead of thinking small.
So, don’t just settle for the mentors you have access to or are assigned. Assemble the best board for your personal brand you can dream up.
2. Appointing Your Personal Board of Directors
Your Personal Board of Directors is the carefully curated circle of people who can expand your perspective, challenge your thinking, open doors and champion your ambition. If visualisation is not your thing, and you’re a much more pragmatic thinker, you can take a different approach to your Personal Board of Directors. If you know your board members directly, you might choose to formalise the mentoring relationship with regular meetings. As I explored in my blog, The Quiet Power of Asking: The Art and Science of Connection and Opportunity, people are more open to you asking for assistance than you might think.
Alternatively, let them know you’re doing this exercise and are mentally appointing them. I’ve done this with some people I do know directly, and in my experience it’s received as the huge compliment that it is. Otherwise, you may simply mentally appoint them, and quietly continue to nurture the relationship.
If you don’t know your desired board members, that’s okay too. The point is to draw on the guidance they would likely give you.
Like any good board, members should be appointed for a purpose and fill a gap in knowledge and experience.
Here are the roles I recommended filling:
Connector: They are energised by introducing you to others.
A Connector is a people person who thrives on using their network to connect the dots for others.
Informer: They have industry knowledge.
The Informer knows your industry well. They are across its trends, latest news and emerging opportunities.
Influencer: They influence others.
An Influencer is someone others are naturally drawn to and whose lead others follow. They likely have a quality network, and their opinion is listened to and respected.
Sponsor: They can help advance your career and put you forward for opportunities.
A Sponsor is a decision-maker in your industry.
Cheerleader: They’re your biggest professional supporter.
Your Cheerleader may not be part of your industry, but they inspire and motivate you. They believe wholeheartedly in your capability. They keep you resilient and in the game.
Critic: They hold you to the highest standard.
Your biggest Critic is likely always demanding more of you. By turning your frustration with them into fuel, you’ll learn to love their critiques.
Captain: They have already navigated your path.
Your Captain has already done what you’re trying to do. Their experience has paved the way for you to chart your own path. Learn from their victories and mistakes.
Next Gener: They’re a younger connection you see yourself in and are energised to support.
They’re across emerging trends and technology and are the future of your industry.
Invisible Counsellor: They’re a ‘mentor’ admired from afar.
A special place for a departed loved one or friend, or simply someone you admire most, alive or dead.
You may appoint 9 different members, giving your board robust knowledge and diversity of experience to draw from. Or, you might find that a few key people fill several roles.
3. Evolve Your Board
Remember that boards evolve to bring fresh perspective and expertise to a brand’s direction. As CEO of Brand You, the best members for your board will change as you do. They will evolve as your goals take new directions.
You are shaped by the people and ideas you surround yourself with. While some people may be the perfect mentors for one time in your life, over time you might find yourself feeling like you're in the wrong room - or have the wrong people in your boardroom. You can have a respected relationship and value it going forward without it representing your own future goals.
Continue to revisit your board appointments exercise every year or two and reappoint your board members to bring renewed ambitions and accountability to Brand You.
Take Your Seat at the Table
You’re the CEO of Brand You. So be intentional about who you invite into your room, and the rooms you want to be in.
Build a board that challenges you, champions you and expands what you believe is possible. And remember: the best board isn’t necessarily the one you start with — it’s the one that evolves as you do.
