I am working on the final draft of the Advisory Board Kit*, a comprehensive guide for establishing advisory boards. I had the pleasure of interviewing several CEOs about their experiences with their advisory board.
I was struck by one CEO’s response to the question: What are some of the biggest challenges to having an advisory board? He said “hearing what the advisors have to say even when it hurts”. That got me to thinking…how many CEOs who say they want an advisory board are really open to hearing the truth?
I’ve talked to CEOs over the years who tell me they think an advisory board is a great idea and then never establish one. First I thought it was the usual excuse, the books and records were in embarrassing disarray or something along those lines. Now I believe it’s that many don’t want the constructive criticism.
If you are a CEO with an advisory board that responds glowingly to you all the time, I’d say you have the wrong advisors. You’re wasting your money and their time by not demanding their candid input.
What do you think?
* The expected publication date is November 2009. Information will be available regarding pre-order and a related teleclass in the next few weeks here on the site. Please check back.
1Allan on Oct 3, 2009 at 7:27 pm:
The truth hurts. Great point and I suspect your intuition is correct. Advisory Boards ought to be something CEOs embrace. They don’t have to worry about getting fired by advisors. They only need to worry about fiduciary boards firing them. Just another example of the human tendency to ignore bad news and criticism. Those companies and leaders that have established a culture of objectivity embrace complaints, criticism, setbacks as learning opportunities to grow and improve. Nice post.
2Susan Hammond on Oct 5, 2009 at 6:25 pm:
Allan, Thanks for your comment. Do you use an advisory board or have you served on any? I would appreciate hearing about your experiences.