Braintrust (Personal Advisory Board Of Mentors)

• Add a handful/group of individuals with different perspectives and lenses to your mental panel, allowing you to ask questions/advice/feedback.
  • When faced with a dilemma, ask one of them, “What would you do?”
• You might not know them personally, and they might not know each other neither.
  • While a real panel of advisors is invaluable, an imaginary panel has advantages: it’s not limited to people you can call, and it requires no one else’s time.
    • A great example: Podcasts
      • A unique opportunity to hear experts and thought leaders talk you through their experiences and decision-making processes.
      • You can choose to be “mentored” by industry leaders or inspiring professionals, even if they have no idea who you are.
      • Their insights are freely available/accessible, tailored to your schedule, and infinitely revisitable at anytime!
• A few key features of the group members:
  • Unbiased (ideally not family)
  • Diverse experiences, perspectives, lenses, mindsets ¹
  • Willing to provide raw feedback and candor
  • Vested interest in your success (i.e., they want to see you win)
• Consider your Braintrust as your life giants—you will always see further by standing on their shoulders by adopting the views from them / tapping into the minds of them.

Murder Board

• also known as a “scrub-down”
• is a committee of questioners set up to critically review a proposal and/or help someone prepare for a difficult oral examination.

See Also

• The Medici Effect
• Lateral Thinking
• Systems Thinking