Comments on: Advisory Boards – Ancillary Benefits http://www.dr-smith.info/advisory-boards-%e2%80%93-ancillary-benefits/ Senior Adviser, Board Member, Executive Coach, Author Sat, 17 Sep 2011 14:00:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dr. Earl R. Smith II http://www.dr-smith.info/advisory-boards-%e2%80%93-ancillary-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-12502 Dr. Earl R. Smith II Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:27:19 +0000 http://www.dr-smith.info/?p=642#comment-12502 Dr. Linda Gadbois wrote: I'm not sure if I actually understand the question . . . the language is different than I am used to . . . but I feel compelled to comment either way. I have a Training and mentoring business, that I also formed a subsidiary called "Innovative Management Services" of which my main specialty is developing brand new approaches to various business situations. I evaluate their business model and methods of practice, and provide the psychological training to open their minds to new outcomes, attitudes and approaches. Most of which are designed to form congruency with their business model, identity and personaity in new and stimulating ways. I find people get stuck in habitual patterns and perceptions in business just like they do in life. My subsidiary provides the basis for my parent company, which I develop custom training programs designed to meet their specific needs. They not only benefit each other in a complimentary fashion, but provide my clients with a broader range of services that form consistency in their operations. I also help them identify "beliefs" about their profession that have prevented them from seeing new and innovative ways to look at things that will allow them to provide better service or products in a much more efficient manner, lowering their costs, while improving their employee retention rate and over-all participoation of their employees, while simulataneously devloping greater company loyalty. Dr. Linda Gadbois wrote:

I’m not sure if I actually understand the question . . . the language is different than I am used to . . . but I feel compelled to comment either way.
I have a Training and mentoring business, that I also formed a subsidiary called “Innovative Management Services” of which my main specialty is developing brand new approaches to various business situations. I evaluate their business model and methods of practice, and provide the psychological training to open their minds to new outcomes, attitudes and approaches. Most of which are designed to form congruency with their business model, identity and personaity in new and stimulating ways. I find people get stuck in habitual patterns and perceptions in business just like they do in life.
My subsidiary provides the basis for my parent company, which I develop custom training programs designed to meet their specific needs. They not only benefit each other in a complimentary fashion, but provide my clients with a broader range of services that form consistency in their operations.
I also help them identify “beliefs” about their profession that have prevented them from seeing new and innovative ways to look at things that will allow them to provide better service or products in a much more efficient manner, lowering their costs, while improving their employee retention rate and over-all participoation of their employees, while simulataneously devloping greater company loyalty.

]]> By: Dr. Earl R. Smith II http://www.dr-smith.info/advisory-boards-%e2%80%93-ancillary-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-12239 Dr. Earl R. Smith II Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:09:49 +0000 http://www.dr-smith.info/?p=642#comment-12239 Larry, Thanks for your response to my question. I appreciated your constructive approach and enjoyed reading it. I have done a lot of work with advisory boards and have even written a book about how to structure and manage them. Your question about proactive advisers is key to the process. The important starting point is purposing the advisory board. The boards that I build are focused on driving the revenue line. Member selection, board management and compensation are all aligned to support that mission. Many times I need to dismantle an existing board that has become unproductive mostly because of a lack of focus before building a new one. When they work, they truly do turbo-charge business development. Regards, Dr. Earl R. Smith II DrSmith@Dr-Smith.com Larry, Thanks for your response to my question. I appreciated your constructive approach and enjoyed reading it. I have done a lot of work with advisory boards and have even written a book about how to structure and manage them. Your question about proactive advisers is key to the process. The important starting point is purposing the advisory board. The boards that I build are focused on driving the revenue line. Member selection, board management and compensation are all aligned to support that mission. Many times I need to dismantle an existing board that has become unproductive mostly because of a lack of focus before building a new one. When they work, they truly do turbo-charge business development.

Regards,

Dr. Earl R. Smith II
DrSmith@Dr-Smith.com

]]> By: Dr. Earl R. Smith II http://www.dr-smith.info/advisory-boards-%e2%80%93-ancillary-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-12237 Dr. Earl R. Smith II Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:09:03 +0000 http://www.dr-smith.info/?p=642#comment-12237 Larry MacDonald wrote: Advisory boards are most valuable to me when the basic guidelines of crowdsourcing are incorporated: diversity, independence, and a particular kind of decentralization. In my experience, when you ask a well chosen group about an issue or plan, each person will have advice to offer and most interestingly, no two people will tend to offer advice on similar points. In other words, they all make suggestions about different elements, so you need to have a large enough group to cover a multitude of issues. Many advisors are great at responding and evaluating, but few are great at being proactive and noticing what is missing. Do others find this to be the case? Larry MacDonald wrote:

Advisory boards are most valuable to me when the basic guidelines of crowdsourcing are incorporated: diversity, independence, and a particular kind of decentralization. In my experience, when you ask a well chosen group about an issue or plan, each person will have advice to offer and most interestingly, no two people will tend to offer advice on similar points. In other words, they all make suggestions about different elements, so you need to have a large enough group to cover a multitude of issues. Many advisors are great at responding and evaluating, but few are great at being proactive and noticing what is missing. Do others find this to be the case?

]]> By: Dr. Earl R. Smith II http://www.dr-smith.info/advisory-boards-%e2%80%93-ancillary-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-11777 Dr. Earl R. Smith II Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:55:17 +0000 http://www.dr-smith.info/?p=642#comment-11777 Ed Dodds wrote; What is curious to me is that the kind of orgs which benefit the most (local NPOs) are the ones to publicize openings the least. Second, donors don't seem the least inclined to hold them accountable for not taking advantage of this pool of experience. 1.5 million US NPOs -- each with 10 to 20 board members -- busily reinventing wheels... Ed Dodds wrote;

What is curious to me is that the kind of orgs which benefit the most (local NPOs) are the ones to publicize openings the least. Second, donors don’t seem the least inclined to hold them accountable for not taking advantage of this pool of experience. 1.5 million US NPOs — each with 10 to 20 board members — busily reinventing wheels…

]]> By: Dr. Earl R. Smith II http://www.dr-smith.info/advisory-boards-%e2%80%93-ancillary-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-11637 Dr. Earl R. Smith II Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:07:26 +0000 http://www.dr-smith.info/?p=642#comment-11637 Todd Glassey wrote: Yes Dr. Smith, Good reply Sir and I believe your model is right for how to structure a board (trust me I have similar structures in use for two of my corporation boards and all of my Trust and Foundation advisory boards). But what I was trying to get you to do is to tell the list what that has to do with PE and raising it. Let me amplify – your posting is reasonable here (in the PE Capital WG) because you are posting this about “teaching people basic business dynamics of how to structure your governance team to insure that the team is capable of meeting any requirements that the business endeavor may face”… which you are asserting is a component of successful capitalization. FWIW – I totally agree but to differentiate this from other posts which are spamish I would use something like a title which contained “Information about Businesses which successfully raise PE” and then start into your commentary on how the Book helps entrepreneur’s chances of successfully fund their efforts. Just my two cents. Todd Glassey Todd Glassey wrote:

Yes Dr. Smith,
Good reply Sir and I believe your model is right for how to structure a board (trust me I have similar structures in use for two of my corporation boards and all of my Trust and Foundation advisory boards). But what I was trying to get you to do is to tell the list what that has to do with PE and raising it. Let me amplify – your posting is reasonable here (in the PE Capital WG) because you are posting this about “teaching people basic business dynamics of how to structure your governance team to insure that the team is capable of meeting any requirements that the business endeavor may face”… which you are asserting is a component of successful capitalization.

FWIW – I totally agree but to differentiate this from other posts which are spamish I would use something like a title which contained “Information about Businesses which successfully raise PE” and then start into your commentary on how the Book helps entrepreneur’s chances of successfully fund their efforts.

Just my two cents.

Todd Glassey

]]> By: Dr. Earl R. Smith II http://www.dr-smith.info/advisory-boards-%e2%80%93-ancillary-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-11635 Dr. Earl R. Smith II Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:06:47 +0000 http://www.dr-smith.info/?p=642#comment-11635 Todd, thanks for the question. Investors make their decision by taking into consideration a wide range of issues. Most do not focus only on the value proposition and the senior team. One of the issues they consider is the strength of reputation and commitment of other, senior and high visibility players. I have had investors tell me that the presence of the kind of board I describe in my book is seen as an asset which increases the company's value. Their reasoning is that 1) companies that can attract people who can impact senior decision makers with the pro-active kinds of commitments required by the advisory boards are more interesting to them because such people would not associate with companies that might damage their reputation, 2) advisers on these boards are dedicated to helping the company gain access to high-level decision makers (an access that most companies in their class would not have, 3) advisers act as mentors to the senior team - reducing the change that they will make bad decisions, 4) the formation of such a pro-active advisory board will have subjected the business plan, value proposition, projections, strategic and tactical plans to the equivalent of a red-team review by a highly qualified panel of experts in the space, and 4) advisers on this type of board tend to be viewed as part of the senior management team - this, along with a correctly designed and populated board of directors, helps give potential investors comfort. Companies that focus on these benefits will have a better chance of successfully arranging funding. Dr. Smith Todd, thanks for the question. Investors make their decision by taking into consideration a wide range of issues. Most do not focus only on the value proposition and the senior team. One of the issues they consider is the strength of reputation and commitment of other, senior and high visibility players. I have had investors tell me that the presence of the kind of board I describe in my book is seen as an asset which increases the company’s value. Their reasoning is that 1) companies that can attract people who can impact senior decision makers with the pro-active kinds of commitments required by the advisory boards are more interesting to them because such people would not associate with companies that might damage their reputation, 2) advisers on these boards are dedicated to helping the company gain access to high-level decision makers (an access that most companies in their class would not have, 3) advisers act as mentors to the senior team – reducing the change that they will make bad decisions, 4) the formation of such a pro-active advisory board will have subjected the business plan, value proposition, projections, strategic and tactical plans to the equivalent of a red-team review by a highly qualified panel of experts in the space, and 4) advisers on this type of board tend to be viewed as part of the senior management team – this, along with a correctly designed and populated board of directors, helps give potential investors comfort. Companies that focus on these benefits will have a better chance of successfully arranging funding. Dr. Smith

]]> By: Dr. Earl R. Smith II http://www.dr-smith.info/advisory-boards-%e2%80%93-ancillary-benefits/comment-page-1/#comment-11633 Dr. Earl R. Smith II Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:06:18 +0000 http://www.dr-smith.info/?p=642#comment-11633 Todd Glassey wrote: Dr. Smith - again what does your book specifically have to do with raising venture or private equity? Todd Todd Glassey wrote:

Dr. Smith – again what does your book specifically have to do with raising venture or private equity?

Todd

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