Personal Advisory Board

For your consideration

clipped from shiftingcareers.blogs.nytimes.com A Board of Advisers — for Your Life By Marci Alboher We have a culture that values self-reliance and, in my experience, most people try to answer most questions themselves. Yet this burden of personal omniscience is heavy. And when it comes to careers, it’s also limiting. Why? Because, generally speaking, the world of careers is in flux, and will be so for the foreseeable future. So how can you get good advice? One approach is to establish a personal board of directors. Your board is not going to have fiduciary responsibility for your life, serve on committees or raise funds for you. (Wouldn’t that be nice, though?) But they can offer something more important — wisdom. How do you create your board? Start by thinking about the types of advice you need and who can provide it. For instance, I would like to become a father, and the most likely way will be through adoption. So my personal board should include someone who understands adoption.