I work through a twelve-step process when establishing a client’s advisory board. I start the planning by asking the CEO to articulate and document their vision of where the company is going.  I start here because without a vision there is no way to evaluate what is needed in advisor expertise and nothing to compel a prospective advisor to serve.

I have found the writing of Jim Collins (Built to Last and Good to Great) to be a great source of questions to guide a CEO in thinking through their vision.  Based on the Collins material, I structure the vision exercise around these three questions:

• What does the company stand for or why does it exist?
• What is the company good at?
• What does the market want and need?

Check back for the other eleven steps and look for the Advisory Board Kit, a comprehensive guide to establishing your own advisory board, to be released this summer.