Why Your Small Business Needs Strategic Advisors (Not Just Cheerleaders)
Bhushan Ekbote, CEO, TAB Austin · 2 min read
A cheerleader makes you feel good. An advisor makes you better. You need both, and you should know which one you are talking to.
Most owners have plenty of cheerleaders. Family, friends, a few employees, maybe a vendor who wants to keep the account. They mean well. They tell you the idea sounds great. They tell you that you are doing amazing.
The trouble starts when that is the only feedback you get.
How to tell the difference
| Cheerleader | Strategic advisor | |
|---|---|---|
| Reaction to your idea | "Love it!" | "What happens if it fails?" |
| Relationship to your outcome | Wants you to feel good | Wants you to get it right |
| Knowledge of your business | Surface level | Knows the numbers and the people |
| Willing to say no | Rarely | Yes, and explains why |
| Follow-up | Cheers again | Asks if you did it |
The last row is where it matters. Real advice includes a next month.
Why cheerleaders are not enough
Support matters, and I would never knock it. Running a company is hard, and encouragement keeps people going.
But encouragement does not catch the flaw in your pricing. It does not notice that your best customer makes up 40 percent of revenue. It does not ask what you will do if your top salesperson leaves.
Someone has to ask those questions. If nobody does, the market will.
What strategic advisors bring
Pattern recognition. They have watched several businesses hit your exact problem.
Distance. They are not tangled up in your politics, so they see what you cannot.
Challenge. They push back, and they do it with your interests in mind.
Follow-through. They ask whether the thing got done.
Where a peer board fits
A peer advisory board is a group of strategic advisors who also happen to understand what you are going through, because they are in it too. The mix is useful. You get warmth from people who get it, and honesty from people who will not hold back.
It only works if you can hear it. Members who leave tend to be the ones who wanted the cheering and not the challenge. The ones who stay say some version of "I do not know everything," and then act on what they hear.
A gut check
Think about the last time someone seriously disagreed with a business decision of yours. When was it? If you cannot remember, you may be surrounded by cheerleaders.
If you would rather find out before the market does, come to a TAB Austin CEO Roundtable.
See how a peer advisory board works. Join our next CEO Roundtable in Austin.
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