Friday, May 15, 2009

The most powerful tool in small business

My Financial Post column this week looks at small-business advisory boards. I am currently working with Ajmer Mehmi, a recent MBA graduate from Vancouver Island University, to promote the creation of a central database and knowledge centre for advisory boards, to help more business owners benefit from these powerful tools.

This week’s Post column sums up some of the results from an online survey we conducted earlier this year of Canadian business owners on the subject of advisory boards. We concluded that advisory boards are tremendously useful for growing companies that want to become more focussed, effective and resilient – but that most entrepreneurs never get started because they have no idea how or where to recruit potential advisers.

Read the column to learn about our solution.
http://www.financialpost.com/small-business/story.html?id=1583309

Let me know if you have any ideas on how to move this project forward.
And watch for part II in the Post on Tuesday, May 19.

1 comment:

Flavian DeLima said...

Rick, this is an excellent post and illustration of how to move forward in challenging economic times that often makes us forget the best ideas come when unexpected constraints enter the picture. Advisory boards offer a nurturing yet honest community where ideas can be introduced and assumptions challenged. I'd add that one's breadth of contacts (not depth) who have disparate backgrounds from the entrepreneur has a tendency to offer more creative and innovate breakthrough ideas and solutions.
When does it make sense to start an advisory board? Likely yesterday! Look forward to reading Part 2.

Flavian DeLima
www.flaviandelima.com
A PR/Communications Consultant