In my last newsletter (read it here), I shared why every leader needs a Personal Board of Advisors (BOA), drawing from my work and the article I wrote for Chief on this very topic.
We covered the three powerful benefits of a personal BOA: it makes leadership less lonely, it provides access, accountability, and awareness, and it accelerates your network in ways that open doors.
After guiding collective groups of nearly 80 Chief Members through their own peer advisory experience, I’ve learned what makes these groups thrive. Here are five tips to help you find, form, and activate your personal BOA with intention.
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Tips for Finding and Activating Your Personal BOA
Effective peer advisory boards pair 8–10 executives from non-competing organizations across industries. Joining one is a quick way to get started. In groups I’ve guided, one-time strangers have become each other’s most trusted advisors organically over time. Here are tips for activating your own personal BOA and sustaining its value:
1. 🎯 Define your goals first. Before assembling or joining a personal BOA, get clear on what you want from it. Knowing the “why” behind the effort helps you find the right people and make the most of their expertise.
2. 🔍 Mine your current network to build your own. Start by reaching out to a few people you think would benefit from the idea. Then, let early members invite others they trust until you have a group spanning industries where everyone knows at least one person. Ask candidates: “How much time can you commit?” and “What are you hoping to gain?” Ask yourself: “Does this person fill a gap or duplicate a voice I already have? Will they stretch me, or just validate me?”
3. 💡 Know each member’s strengths and make specific asks. The value of a great BOA member isn’t that they give you answers, it’s that they ask the right questions and help you find your own. Before you engage, understand what each person brings and come to them with a clear, purposeful ask. A well-functioning board keeps you honest, grounded, and brave; both supported and stretched.
4. 🏗️ Build in structure and use your board for accountability (not just advice). Once you’ve formed your personal BOA, establish a charter: when and how you’ll meet, how sessions get facilitated, attendance expectations, and norms around feedback. Then, use it for accountability. Share your goals, your wins, and your challenges. Commit to checking in with individual members between group sessions. A personal BOA that holds you accountable as both a professional and a whole person, is one of the most important assets an executive can have.
5. 🤲 Deliberately give back: Psychologist Robert Cialdini’s principle of reciprocity notes that people feel encouraged to help those who they’ve received value from first. The best way to enroll and retain great advisors is to offer them the support you know they need.
I’ve watched members of these groups rise to CEO roles, land public company and nonprofit board seats, launch successful companies after leaving corporate life, take long-overdue sabbaticals and then return to more fulfilling work, and so much more. All were inspired, challenged, and lifted by the power of their personal BOA.
I’ll close with a shoutout to a Chief Core Group I’ve guided for nearly five years, a group that has served as a valuable personal BOA for each other through professional milestones and personal challenges. When I asked what makes their BOA work, they named five things without hesitation:
Chemistry. Accountability. Structure. Shared Values. Commitment.
When all five exist in your personal BOA, the impact on your career, and your life, will be immense.
You mentor a lot of people. Now it’s time to build the team that mentors you.
➡ Want to create your BOA? Reply to this email or book a 20-minute call. Schedule my free session.
Here’s to bringing your best self forward,
Loretta