Corporate boards exist to govern wisely, stress-test decisions, and prevent organizations from drifting off course. A personal board of directors applies that logic to your own life, but in a more human and flexible way. Instead of quarterly meetings and rigid hierarchies, a personal board works best when it behaves not like a boardroom, but an ensemble. Think of the way high-performing athletes or jazz musicians work: adaptive, relational, and grounded in trust.
It’s a model that resonates with many women leaders today, particularly as careers become less linear. Traditional mentorship can feel too narrow or hierarchical for women navigating portfolio careers, pivots, or reinvention. Choosing advisors solely for their seniority or pedigree can trap you in static thinking.
A personal board solves for that — and something deeper. As Chief Member Tamara Franklin, Board Director at Genpact, said, leadership can be lonely, but a board “is a place where you don’t have to be lonely.” It becomes a circle that keeps you honest, grounded, and brave. Not just supported, but stretched.
So what would it look like to build your board the way you’d build a great team or band? What if status mattered less than responsiveness, trust, openness, and a willingness to challenge without judgment?
Lesson 1: Clarity, Diversity, and Trust Make the Team
Sports teams thrive when players understand their roles and how they fit together. Former basketball player Pasha Cook said that as a point guard, she learned to anticipate strengths, pass at the right moment, and trust her teammates’ instincts. A team succeeds because each player contributes differently and because their relationships are strong enough to withstand pressure, feedback, and change.
Franklin sees the same dynamic in leadership. “You have profound respect for the positions you don’t play,” she said. “You value and admire that talent even if you can’t do it yourself.” That respect creates conditions for transparency and accountability, so people stop operating from “shoulds” and instead focus on what truly matters.
Diversity — of experience, perspective, and background — is essential to this foundation. As Chief Member Tara Mia Paone, a senior finance executive, put it, “Out of diversity you get some of the best thinking.” Ensembles thrive on difference because it expands range, uncovers blind spots, and unlocks new ways of thinking.
But diversity only works with trust. Chief Guide Lisa Rubin emphasized the need for clear goals and open communication. Vulnerability must be modeled from the beginning. “When one person shares a struggle, others realize they’re not alone,” she said. In this context, courage becomes contagious.
Lesson 2: Improvisation and a Beginner’s Mind Drive Growth
If sports teach collaboration, jazz teaches improvisation: the ability to lead, follow, and adapt in real time.
Jazz musician and professor Alex Steele said musicians “push each other by both leading and following.” The lack of hierarchy allows experimentation to flourish. Anyone can step forward with an idea or step back to support someone else. There’s no “wrong” move, only the next possibility.
That mindset is invaluable in nonlinear careers, where roles shift and industries move quickly. Growth often depends less on certainty and more on the willingness to try, adjust, and try again.
Deep listening is central to both jazz and leadership. Rubin noted that leaders entering a new role spend significant time listening, as it’s what allows them to understand the system before they shape it. It’s also what allows a personal board to challenge, reframe, or accelerate your thinking.
One way to strengthen listening skills is to apply the idea of a “beginner’s mind.” Senior leaders are accustomed to expertise and control, which can calcify thinking. Steele explained that jazz musicians do the opposite, embracing the unknown because it fuels growth. Admitting what you don’t know may take courage, but the payoff is worth it. As Steele noted, “In the mind of an expert there are a few possibilities, but in the mind of a beginner there are many.” The best personal boards help you hold both truths: your expertise and your openness.
Lesson 3: Support and Candor Keep You Moving
Every interviewee emphasized that the point of a personal board isn’t comfort. It’s clarity.
Clarity comes from honest feedback delivered by people who want you to succeed: the coach who calls out a gap in your game or the teammate who pushes you to adapt under pressure. In jazz, clarity comes from real-time course correction. Not criticism, but collaboration.
Your board should function the same way. Rubin highlighted the importance of incisive questioners who can peel back layers to reveal what’s really driving a decision. But candor only works alongside support. This is because too much candor becomes judgment, while too much support becomes appeasement. Together, they keep you grounded, honest, and always moving toward the future you say you want.
The Five People Every Ensemble Needs
Across interviews, the same archetypes emerged. Many of these roles mirror what makes great teams and bands work.
1. The Coach — Reflection and Accountability
Your strategic advisor and mirror. Like a coach or bandleader, they see the system around you, helping you step back, see patterns, and look beyond just your next move.
2. The Challenger — Stretch and Disruption
The one who pushes you out of “expert mode” and into experimentation. They make you break out of autopilot, question assumptions, and generate new thinking.
3. The Specialist — Depth and Expertise
Your position player or technical soloist: the lawyer, HR expert, or finance brain who fills knowledge gaps and provides additional context to help you make tough decisions.
4. The Fresh Ear — Novelty and Perspective
A reverse mentor or someone newer to your field who may see the world differently and offer new skills. They help you avoid the trap of “this is how it’s always been done.”
5. The Confidante — Stability and Emotional Grounding
The one who knows your whole story. They bring emotional safety but won’t shy away from telling you the truth.
How to Use Your Board and Not Just Build It
Like any strong team or band, your board needs shared expectations. Clarify the purpose of the group and how to show up within it. But keep the structure fluid and non-hierarchical, the way leadership shifts naturally in a game or during a solo. When no one is “in charge,” honesty becomes easier.
Then build trust through vulnerability. Teams play better when people can admit what they don’t know; bands play better when musicians can take risks.
Finally, stay flexible. Let the composition change as needed. Teams trade players. Jazz bands rotate lineups. Your board should evolve naturally as your seasons, goals, and challenges change.
Think of your personal board as a living ensemble that mirrors your ambitions, stretches your thinking, and anchors you when the stakes get high. Built intentionally, it can help you navigate complexity, stay open to possibility, and grow in ways traditional mentorship can’t.
The goal isn’t perfection, it’s partnership.
