我最近参加了一个妇女教师会议，会议的主题是指导。在讨论中，有人提出了成立个人董事会的想法。我从来没有想过我生命中的那些人——啦啦队长、督促我的人、督促我的人、和我经历着同样的挣扎的人，或者能把我和别人联系起来的人——是我的董事会成员，但他们就是这样。公司或非营利组织董事会的作用是管理组织，而个人董事会的作用是帮助指导和塑造个人对自己的职业和个人生活的管理。

过去一周左右，我一直在思考个人董事会的价值，其中有很多，但有三个具体的好处不断浮出水面：

帮助你度过职业生涯的曲折

很少有人能从大学毕业到现在的职位是直线上升的。对我们大多数人来说，我们的职业生涯是从一个方向开始的，然后转向另一个方向，再转向另一个方向，如此往复。这些变化可能与职业变化、中断、调动甚至兴趣有关。如果没有个人董事会的指导，一个人可能会随意地进行这些转变，从这种经历中获得很少的好处。例如，为了改变职业而后退三步是完全可以的，但因为你不喜欢你的老板而后退三步就不行了。一个私人董事会，应该会阻止你做出这样的决定。相反，对于那些为了养家而退出（或退出）工作生活的女性来说，个人董事会的作用是指导她们重返职场的过程，以确保决策是战略性的，而不是接受第一个提供给她们的职位。

Help you grow in your career and as an individual

Our career trajectory should about more than not just moving up the corporate ladder from one position to the next. It should also be about growing our skills, adding to our toolbox, i.e. becoming a better leader with each step up. It is really about growing as a person. A the personal board of directors can help you reflect and grow both professionally and individually by asking you the tough questions, by forcing you to see beyond yourself, and by sharing personal examples and experiences to help you see more options.

Provide guidance when there are no visible doors

It can be hard enough to make decisions when there are multiple options before you – each with different consequences and outcomes, but sometimes we are faced with situations where there are no apparent doors. At least one of our personal board of directors has likely faced this situation, and can thus be of great assistance by sharing their experience. Often times there are doors, but we can’t see them because we are stuck in our thinking and experience. A personal board of directors can help you see the potential doors and help you assess the benefits and drawbacks of each.

I encourage you to think about your personal board, and if you don’t have one, then start to create one. Personally, I have come to rely on my personal board of directors to not only cheer me on and celebrate my successes, but more often to help me navigate the muddy, the complex, and the unknown. They have called me out when I have been wrong, held me to the highest standards, and forced me to see situations through a variety of lens – all of which make me better, stronger, more empathetic, and more confident.

Best,