A few years ago, I read, “Think of yourself as your own business, with you at the helm as the CEO.” Being your own CEO involves many things but importantly, recognising your value and investing in yourself. And you need your own personal board of directors who will steer you towards your success.

The pandemic created several shifts, necessitating changes in not just business operations but in critical leadership skills - people management, decision-making, socio-cultural sensitivities, health and wellness and several more. Without any of us realising it, we were adapting and making changes on the go. I found myself talking to industry peers, sales teams, retail stores’ staff, past colleagues, global colleagues across regions, my team and seeking reverse mentoring from youths or Gen Z. While it started with an unstructured approach to navigate through the volatility by learning from each other, it soon became a process that had a clear objective of finding solutions and crafting a winning strategy that would work in the complex environment. One such example is being able to leverage the collective strength of industry peers to seek support from authorities whenever required.

In the process, I found my group of allies, a community of supportive yet diverse set of people who are today my own personal board of directors. Among others, it also includes my close friends, my wife and my children. I continue to hold on to this group as they motivate, challenge, help me expand my network and unlock business opportunities. Besides, this has helped me appreciate diverse perspectives and develop myself as I interact and observe others’ skills, competencies and passion.

What has worked for me is that I have chosen people who give me constructive feedback, hold me accountable, guide and coach me, encourage me to think enterprise, be decisive, are aware of the external trends and challenge me to confront reality, push me to invest in self-care and development. And I have been investing time and energy in nurturing my personal board. I am intentional about it and calendarise my meetings with them.

My advice to all those who want to develop a personal board – go to your board with an open mind, ask questions, and finally,be clear on what you want from these individuals so that you can derive the most benefit and realise the purpose of their existence in your life – is it to help you navigate through complexities, progress to next stage of your career or simply grow as a leader. Finally, be humble and vulnerable.