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Episode 2: How to build a personal board of directors
Making friends but for work
Farhan Manjiyani
January 15, 2024
Episode 2: How to build a personal board of directors
👋 Yo! Welcome to the next episode of Negotiating like the Man where you learn how to grow your career and income with better negotiation strategy in less than 5 minutes.
Add your expertise to be featured in future editions here:
🤝 Making friends but for work
A concept that’s served me well over the years is a ‘board of directors’ for my life and career. The idea is that CEOs are generalists. Often their most powerful tool is the self-awareness to know the limitations of their expertise and a network of folks to call upon when they exceed those limits.
A board is made of specialists for the business — engineering, finance, sales, etc. Each person is carefully selected to offer a unique perspective and as the business evolves so does the board.
In fact when I first started this newsletter, I reached out to my own network to build a board of directors (see my template below). Having a board allows me to narrow my focus on the content side knowing that my board can help ensure my message resonates, pressure test assumptions I’m making, and be thought partners for me going forward.
💎 Advice on how to start building a board
What are the categories you’re focused on right now? Could be health, wealth, business, relationship, etc.
What are the scenarios you run into frequently that would be helpful to chat through with a board?
What type of person would be most helpful for you today?
After you have these answers, you can start your overview doc which you’ll share with potential candidates for your board. The goal of the overview is to set expectations for what it means to be part of your board — roles/responsibilities, what feedback should look like, how often, example topics, etc.
People dislike ambiguity, so the more specific you can be on what your ask of them is the more people are likely to say yes to participating.
✅ Here’s a template from my newsletter resource bank you can steal to jumpstart your BoD overview doc
What’s the ask: As I start to ramp up, provide feedback on the content / format to make sure I stay true to the target audience (women who struggle to negotiate). Once I get a few of these out (~10) then the advisory role will give feedback on ideas to execute, people to chat with, or general improvements.
What does that look like specifically:
Making comments or suggestions on the docs I shared for how things can be phrased, interpreted (or misinterpreted)
Feedback on length, topical focus, relatability or applicability to situations you’d personally want advice on
What that doesn’t look like:
Writing/Rewriting things for me — my goal is to preserve my voice/tone/style of writing to ensure it feels cohesive and natural. I do not expect ghostwriting (writing for me).
As your answers to questions 1-3 change, your board will naturally evolve. I recommend 3-5 people on my board at any given time.
The most important characteristic of people on your board is people who speak your language. If you have a hard time following their advice because it’s buried in metaphors or always very generic, then it defeats the purpose.
Focus on people who get you and best help you in the moment. Remember it can always evolve. Let me know how I can be helpful for you. See ya next week 👋
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✅ Find all resources here.
✨ Special thank you to Gigi Marquez who suggested I start this newsletter 🙏