An important element of a great business many overlook is assembling a diverse advisory board, committed to developing your organization and exchanging knowledge. The right people bring innovative ideas, create opportunities and help a company move forward faster toward its stated objectives (or ones they didn’t even think possible). In fact, having the right people involved can be more important than having capital, because good ideas and good companies can attract low-cost capital. And it is important to note that an advisory board is different than a board of directors, focused solely on governance. The advisory members bring experience and views not found within the business, who are prepared to challenge the expectations, capabilities and vision of the organization. Jeff rejoins The Second Stage to explore this topic in depth, providing suggestions for attracting those individuals that will push your organization to new heights.
Jeff DeGraff is the Dean of Innovation – an author, speaker, and advisor to Fortune 500 companies and mission-driven organizations worldwide. He’s the CEO and Founder of Innovatrium, Founder of Intellectual Edge Alliance, and Clinical Professor of Management and Organizations at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Jeff co-created the Competing Values Framework and developed the Innovation Code and Innovation Genome methodologies which provide organizations with practical tools to reconcile competing priorities and drive breakthrough performance. His mission is the democratization of innovation: making systematic innovation accessible to everyone, everywhere, every day.