How to Get the Most Value from Your Advisory Board Meetings

Bhushan Ekbote, CEO, TAB Austin · 2 min read

The members who get the most out of a board do one thing the others do not. They open up, take the feedback, and act on it.

That is almost the entire formula. The rest is detail.

I have watched owners come through boards for a while now. The ones who stay and grow are easy to describe. The ones who leave are easy to describe too, and the gap between them has nothing to do with company size, industry, or intelligence.

What the owners who leave have in common

They do not open up. They come to meetings, nod, share a safe update, and keep the real problem to themselves. Then they wonder why the group is not helping.

The group cannot help with a problem it never hears about.

Some also bristle at feedback. Someone suggests a different approach and they explain why it will not work. After a few rounds, people stop offering.

And some never close the loop. They hear a good idea, say thanks, and do nothing. Next month the same problem comes back, and the room starts to wonder.

What the owners who stay do

They bring the real thing. Not the tidy version. The hiring mistake. The margin that keeps shrinking. The partner they are not sure about.

They say "I do not know everything." Out loud, early, and often. It makes the room safer for everyone else.

They take notes and act. Between meetings, they do the thing they said they would. Accountability only works if there is something to be accountable for.

They report back. Next month they say what they tried and what happened. This is when the group gets sharp, because now they can see whether their advice held up.

Prepare for each meeting

A few habits that help:

Before the meeting, write down the one decision you are stuck on.
State it in two sentences. If you cannot, you are not clear on the problem yet.
Say what you have already tried.
Ask for what you need: ideas, challenge, or a gut check.
After, write down your next step and the date you will report on it.

Use the tools

In TAB, members work from a shared operating system called the Business BluePrint, so the group is looking at the same picture of your company. Use it. Updating it before a session means the room spends time on advice and not on catching up.