3 Powerful Tools That All-But Guarantee, You'll Thrive in Your Business

“Plans fail when there is no counsel, but they succeed?when?advisers?are many.“ (Proverbs 15:22)

This is an often-quoted verse, a piece of advice from King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. While the advice doesn’t appear to be pointed only at business people, the application of that wisdom can make the difference between success and failure for a business person.

How do you apply the wisdom of this passage in a practical way to a business?

?

An Attitude of Humility??

You must have the attitude that there are people in your world who may be wiser than you. And who have experience and expertise in areas that you do not.?Even the wisest, smartest, most experienced person is subject to flawed perspectives, emotionally-influenced decisions, and paradigms and prejudices that can negatively impact a set of decisions.??If you think you know it all, then a set of advisers is going to be a waste of their time and yours.

While humility is about you, and how you think of yourself, it helps if, at the same time, you have a healthy respect for the experiences, wisdom, motivation and thinking skills of people around you.???If you don’t have people in your life who you respect, you are probably not a good candidate to be positively influenced by a group of them.

So, the necessary foundation is a sense of humility on your part coupled with a healthy respect for some of the folks in your world. Having laid that foundation, here are three proven practices for bringing a group of advisers into your business.

1. A Formal Advisory Board?

This is a group of people who meet with you on a regular basis, and react and respond to a set of questions and issues that you bring to them.?In most cases, they are paid on a per-meeting basis.

You select each advisor based on the experience and skill he/she has accumulated along the way.?You bring them into your group for at least a year or two.?That gives them enough time to educate themselves on your business and grow an interest in your success.

For about ten years, I was on the advisory board of one of my clients.?There were eight of us who met formally once a quarter, in a three-hour meeting.?The company owner would prepare the agenda, which generally required us to discuss and recommend actions for some aspect of the business.

Minutes were kept and circulated, and a formal agenda was prepared and distributed in advance of the meeting.?We did things like review quarterly financial statements, help with key decisions, interview candidates for key positions, vet potential acquisitions, and serve as an on-going strategic planning task force.?The owner felt like he had a group of high-power advisors who contributed the best of their experience and thinking, for a fraction of the cost of a similar group of employees.

In a very mature market, that business...CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE.