Now, here is the trick, as humans we gravitate towards people that we like are similar, think like us, well in this case you would want to do the opposite.
You want to assemble a fair and balanced team that will complement your thinking on the one hand and challenge your thinking on the other hand. Most importantly, fill the gaps in your competencies and knowledge base. It should include a wide range of personalities, from the optimists to the pessimist. From the risk, it takes to extreme conservatives and from the visionaries to analytics and practical thinkers.
As the saying goes: “There is no air to the bird, no water to the fish, so every man is to himself.” The idea of creating your advisory team is to expand you and enrich your brain. It requires a high level of maturity and confidence to do so.
Here are some pointers on what you should not do is:
- Take advice from your friend and your biggest fans
- Those who will be the “Yes Men’s” and will always tell you what you want to hear
- Looking for cheap or free advice – consider that in the end “free” advice always comes with a high cost
- Listen or take advice from people with no successful track records what do ever
- Listen to people that had no failures in life (did not find one, yet)
You want to ensure that your team has a diverse background and will cover all aspects of the business, make sure that you select and receive advice and or feedback from highly credible sources that come with sufficient and up to date knowledge and experiences.
What is the main point of having an advisory team?
One thinks that life teaches you if you are willing to take this point of view, that if you are the smartest person in a room, you are in the wrong room. It is not who says what, or how they are saying it that matters, it is your listening ability that counts. The purpose is to help you see what you do not see, and hear that which you do not hear on your own., pointing to your blind spots and sometimes will make you smarter, if you let it.
At the end of the day taking into account other people’s feedback, input, insight, and opinion, it will be your decision – after all, it is your money.
