Dr. Earl R. Smith II

admin says:

16 Responses to “Advisory Boards – productive or a waste of time?”
1.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:44 am e
Phil Parkinson: I have sat on some advisory boards during my past for some SME and non-profits. The thing that I find that it comes down to is whether or not the organization actually follows through with the recommendations that the board comes up with to resolve some of the bigger issues that shape the future of the organization.
If the organization does not follow through, it is really a double whammy because the board members get frustrated and move on to other endeavours where they feel they can make a difference. Plus, the organization may get into trouble because it has not done anything or has decided to go in the wrong direction.
Good luck with your article. It should be interesting if you receive various levels of feedback.
2.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:45 am e
Luigi Rigolio: Dear Doctor Earl R.Smith II,
when you have a clear objective, a advisory board is a chance to get important informations and consequently to set a clear action plan. But keep in mind that getting clear and useful informations from a group is a severe challenge.
You need criteria to
select members
state agenda
identify materials
stipulate agreement with members about the goals
You need at least 12 hours of your time and well known meeting technology for engeneering materials for a 4 hours advisory board.
Otherwise you will reply a “advisory board” following a fashionned meaningless ritual, with a extracharge for your company. Being most of advisory board meaningless and ritual, I can agree with your opinion.
Best Regards
Luigi Rigolio
Consultant and trainer
cartaforbicesasso.it
3.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:45 am e
Andrew Kaplan: I have had advisory boards for years whether it is just to bounce and idea off on, help me prioritize, handle a crisis, open a door, or share their experiences. Personally, many of my advisors have stellar careers, become lifelong friends and mentors. They may have even more significance for a newly minted CEO, or a serial entrepreneur.
Here is the catch. They don’t work in your business day to day. If you don’t describe your problem or issue clearly and openly (warts and all), you may not receive the proper advice. In most cases, you will receive conflicting advice if you have multiple advisors, so you need to balance out who you trust and has a track record. The last part about advisory boards is that you need to be open to criticism and be open to change. NOT LISTENING and NOT TAKING ACTION (analysis/paralysis) are two of the major reasons advice my fall flat or not have an impact.
4.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:45 am e
Stacy Gentile: Advisory boards, in my experience, are only as good as the people “you” select to be on them. Boards can be misused various ways. Sometimes I see people stack the deck to make themselves feel better about their decisions. I have seen others use it as a scape goat…”I took it to the board and they approved it”. In my opinion, if you want any board to be successful, load it up with varying perspectives. Load it up with truly intelligent and experienced people who are passionate about what you are doing or have a vested interest. Don’t put people on it who are “Board Whores” who like to use the position for their own gain or self gratification. Load it with people you trust and respect. If you do this you will have a great experience. Also, use it sparingly, only when you really have serious questions about what to do if if you have conflicting data or maybe even in the event you need some sort of mediation. hope this helps.
5.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:46 am e
Sheilah Etheridge: I enjoyed your article. There is a great deal of truth in all you said.
As Andrew said, these boards must be aware of all the issues and if they are working in the dark a solution will never be found. People want an advisory board, but many are not expecting the board to point out the flaws and faults of current operations. Instead they merely want someone to tell them them everything is great and nothing needs to be change. When that doesn’t happen they in turn reject the prosposed ideas.
Others are as you said. They rehash everything to death and still accomplish zero.
It is so frustrating to participate in this type of non production and when you are the one pointing out that we are here to formulate a soltion not just continue to redefine the problem, feathers are ruffled and attitudes come to the surface.
No one appreciates criticism. Most do not even appreciate constructive criticism. CEO’s need to understand their role in making these boards effective. The board members also need to remain focused on their goal for “that” company.
It has been my experience with boards that more often than not people come into these situations feeling as though it is not going to be any different that the last board they sat on. They have defeated the purpose before they have even gotten started.
More important what they see as the problem and/or solution is often sugar coated to the CEO and that causes it’s effectiveness to fly right out the window.
6.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:47 am e
Ken Steinberg: I consider a BOA to be instrumental in many ways but I agree with much of what you wrote. I think the element you might have missed is that most exec’s don’t know how to use them correctly nor how to set them up properly.
BOA’s have to be worked. I consider them slight extensions of my technical, sales, and marketing teams. I select my members for their knowledge but even more so their connectedness to the industry I am in. As with LinkedIn, there is tremendous value in the right BOA. I tend toward people who are already well written, spoken, and known. A+ personality types who are respected for their views and like the prospect of being associated with a “winner” (perceived or real).
BOA’s don’t run themselves but if you work with them and SET THEIR EXPECTATIONS (bold because it is VERY important) correctly, they work.
Ken
btw: I consider them to have a lifespan of 2 years before needed refreshing or dissolving….but 2 years FLIES in this line of work!!!!
bbtw; build a new BOA right now as a matter of fact… :^) A very fresh subject area for me. great question!
7.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:47 am e
JD Morris: I have seen board of advisors raise all the seed capital for several deals. When it comes to raising money, board of advisors position can be key to people investing.
I have seen board of advisors help company sign its 1st customers to major JVs. However, most board of advisors are about 80% dead wood for early stage deals.
Boards of Advisors are what you and the advisors make of it, just like the executive of company actions are what they make of the company.
8.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:48 am e
Jeff Allen: Basically, I don’t see the value in participating in a board if the organization does not make an effort to let the board provide the support that it should and can.
My LinkedIn profile page lists 4 advisory board positions that I have held (and can say I have been actively involved in). 3 of them constitute 8 of my LinkedIn endorsements. See those endorsements to see what those organizations have thought of my participation. Those statements reflect my thoughts about the value of being involved. As for the 4th one, I’ve only recently added it to my profile. It was also a great experience, but the wrong window of time (2000-2001 during the dotcom fallout and 911) for that company to get started. Another advisory board role currently in discussion.
In the past, I have also been on the other end of the fence by participating in identifying, selecting and inviting advisory board members. When you participate in boards, then you appreciate the issues in selecting others to serve in such a way.
9.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:48 am e
Sherri Dohemann: Well, I am not a ceo, however I do have non-profit board experience. To your question, in the market side I am a huge believer in advisory boards. Basically, promoting any service or product requires the literal buy-in of your audience. To gain traction to that point, reaching the influencers by way of an ad board is a great way to get your work done through others. I think of an ad board as being a sophisticated type of buzz marketing. Executed correctly, persons are chosen by certain and standard criteria for credibility. By process of ad boards, the participant is more engaged and likely to take action on behalf of the organization using their influence to optimize and substantiate whatever beliefs they extolled in becoming and participating in the ad board in the first place.
Sorry, didn’t mean to be contrary to you. I do believe that in many markets ad boards can make or break………In the least you can get a consensus on standards-always important for brand equity. as in #1 here The second document shows where ad boards are absolutely needed-where any proposed solution has a convergence of experts in different fields……..ad board would manage the balance of each stakeholder’s perceived need based upon their own expertise area.
10.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:48 am e
Jayant Joshi: Advisory boards are productive with
Selection with matching chemistry
Goals
Commitment
Trust
Transparency
Communication
Sharing Rewards
11.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:49 am e
Samuel Anderson: My experience with them is both positive and somewhat a waste of time. It truly depends on how you set it up and choose to run it. It can be a vital part of sales and technical drive to where you want the company to go, but for pure advisory, you need to be transparent and upfront.
Most Presidents just arrive to the meeting with no specific details to problems because they don’t want to discuss this with you, they already have with their own paid brain-storming crew. They are looking for some sorts of validation from the BOA. Unfortunately, the BOA gets an earful of questions related to the problem, but not addressed as a problem, just a “What would you do in this situation”?
Also, some people on the BOA will not network with you if they don’t know you and vise verse. Let me give you an example. I co-chair a major BOA in this country filled with attorney’s. I am not an attorney, but the Chairman of it is and he also happens to be a former US Attorney General (of the United States) and is well-known. We get along great, but most words of wanting to get together and do this and do that which I know can be a benefit to the both of us including the BOA and the organization we belong to and support is just out the door. So, don’t expect anything to happen with your own personal business when you feel that there can be an opportunity. Most of the serious problems have been discussed ahead of time with the Chairman of the BOA to come up with questions to ask the board. This is how it works mostly in my opinion because the President does not want to explain or go into great details about the internal workings of his/her decisions and be questioned by others about it. You will only get what he/she wants you to get and just stick to the plan they give you and answer what they need to hear, not what you want to know necessarily.
The positive part of it is I have gotten some really good clear constructive answers put to me in several different ways and variations. On my own BOA I have chosen those who I can trust completely. I have chosen those who get to work, because they know I will do the same for them and I have provided them with questions and answers ahead of time as to not waste their time. These are men and women who I can call at 2am and ask them to meet me for coffee over some stupid issue with my pet cat if I wanted to. These are people I have chosen because they are business warriors at what they do. They believe in what they do and they have a passion to succeed at what they do and it doesn’t necessarily have to be in my field of expertise. These people have a faith and they practice it, but their business is their religion and they go for it and it shows in their every day life.
This is what I have chosen to be a part of my BOA and I haven’t forgotten to load it up with those who also share what I do, you have to have that or else what is the point. This takes time and it takes trust and don’t be afraid, but don’t move too fast either.
My “guys” are solid and it has taken me over ten years to get it where I can truly say, “I have a BOA”. With it, I get all sorts of answers and sometimes not what I want to hear. Good luck!
12.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:49 am e
Will Neale: I am an exec board director of a UK mobile video start-up – we don’t have a formal advisory board, but we do have a number of non-execs and others who attend our board meetings… and they are invaluable. Assistance includes:
- Financial structuring/investment advice (we have a CFO of a larger group on the board and investment advisors also regularly attend boad meetings)
- Providing customers (our advisors are well connected and open many doors)
- Experience (they’ve been there and done that with many start-ups)
- Seeing things that we can’t spot, because we’re too close to everything
13.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:50 am e
Stuart Oliver: An interesting question.
Firstly, I would say that if an advisory board is not delivering to expectation then it’s probably time to take a look in the mirror, afterall advisory boards don’t appoint themselves.
A classic Catch22 that always makes me chuckle is where some internal staff may dismiss output from the board on the basis of “what do they know, they don’t spend every day in the office like I do”. Whereas those who had a hand in recruitment placed emphasis on choosing those who would not get tied up in too much detail and would bring fresh suggestions and approaches.
I’m very much in favour of advisory boards. At the very least, you’re likely to uncover different views and opinions. At the best, you’ll find out that your way of doing things isn’t going to work and, therefore, you don’t act on it and adversely affect the business.
14.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:50 am e
Robert Spencer: An advisory board is a tool, just like any other. If you use it in the correct manner, it will work for you. If you misuse it, it will work against you.
As has been stipulated many times before me, ensure that the board’s mandate is defined. That the goals are defined.
Asking “how do I solve the current situation” is a pointless question.
Asking “do you recomend that I choose option x or option y – or, should I be looking in a totally different direction?” has more value in my opinion.
Don’t laden your advisory board with donkey work. If they are to make a decision on whether your company should fold or continue (for example), give them all the up to date complete information at your disposal – but don’t make them look for it!
15.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:50 am e
Matt Wayne: Most CEO’s I have worked with are disenchanted with advisory boards for many of the reasons listed by you and the respondents. As Thomas Edison said “the value of an idea lies in the using of it.” Advisory boards are ideas not a requirement for business success. CEO’s have so many duties and responsibilities that often the management of and time commitment to an advisory board becomes a burden and another mouth to feed instead of an idea or business development/lead generator. Full-time advisory boards are valuable to the extent that they improve potential weaknesses or blind spots a CEO may have in the industry vertical or professional skills. An advisory board could help a CEO who was hired from a different industry with their collective specific domain knowldege. I also think advisory boards make sense as think tanks for specific issues that need an immediate answer. I call them just-in-time advisory boards and they are similar to focus groups but with subject matter experts or industry veterans that can help you uncover answers and create bottom line solutions instead of becoming a drain on time and resources. Your article was very interesting and enjoyable to read.
16.
July 8th, 2007 at 11:51 am e
Carter Cathey: I have been asked to join two advisory boards. Niether of these two boards were especially productive nor do I think they were designed with the intention of implementing thier recommendations.
In my experience, one of the main reasons that advisory boards are formed is for external appearances rather than for the content of their recommendations.
I hesitate to come down fully against advisory boards because the idea behind them could clearly yeild excellent results. However, unless the powers that assemble the board actually commit to evaluating and implementing the findings, then it can quickly become an exercize in futility.