Advisory Boards as Business Development Engines
By Dr. Earl R. Smith II A well constructed and professionally managed advisory board can bring amazing benefits to a company. A poorly designed and managed one is usually a colossal waste of resources. The difference often lays not so much in the idea of an advisory board, but in the execution of that idea by the senior management team, and particularly the CEO, of a company. In many cases, the productivity of a company’s advisory board is an indication of the effectiveness and sharpness of focus of the senior management team. I learned this lesson early in my career when I discovered how to leverage the needs of a client base and fund the launch of my company using customer’s money. This was the company that also taught me how an advisory board, if appropriately structured, populated and managed, can radically improve a company’s performance. As it turned out, there was a second major benefit that came out of that experience. I had developed 1) a promising solution to a major problem will draw investment from those who will most benefit (the customers) and 2) involved potential clients intimately in the process of developing solutions to their problems. Both ensured their support of the company which then offered those solutions, another important lesson was learned … this time quite by accident. From my team’s perspective, the Advisory Board made life much easier. The flow of product, investment funds and bank loans was all organized within one venue. The regular meetings of the Board provided a continuity of process that helped to organize a complex situation. Because the ‘market’ had become so well organized and the ‘players’ were all recognized ‘friends’, the process of arranging and closing financing became ‘rationalized’ … much of the uncertainty had been removed. My team got the credit for doing that and the company was seen as a necessary part of the process. Dr. Smith is Executive Director of Longview. He is an entrepreneur, seasoned senior executive, political and social theorist, published author and speaker. He is a veteran of Wall Street and has founded and managed two non-profit and six for-profit companies. Dr. Smith builds and serves on advisory boards, boards of directors and acts as an senior advisor to CEOs and other senior executives. Visit the Longview website at http://www.lngvw.com or e-mail Dr. Smith at drsmith@lngvw.com to arrange a free consultation Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Earl_R._Smith_II http://EzineArticles.com/?Advisory-Boards-as-Business-Development-Engines&id=375856 ambien allergic xolnox zolpidem hemitartrate generic ambien without a prescription ambien cr 25 mg
