How to create your Advisory Board. What to use it for, how to avoid pitfalls and how to get the best out of your advisory board.

1. How to create
an Advisory Board
Lena Beck Roervig
CEO & Co-Founder
Beck Global Consulting, LLC
44W 28th St. 8th fl.
New York, NY 10001
mail@lenabeck.com
+1 917-803-0831
www.beckglobalconsulting.com

2. What can an advisory board offer
• Experiences: been in the business longer than you.
• New perspectives: different industry or field
providing.
• Connections: high profile executives who lend you
credibility, thus helping you secure customers, or
financing.
• Introductions: e.g. potential customers, potential
strategic partners.
• Test: bounce ideas off & provide a reality check.
• Truth: tell you when you’re about to mess up.
• An ally: confide in.
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3. Advisory Board vs. Board of Directors
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Advisory Board
1. Created to offer guidance
2. No authority
3. No fiduciary responsibility
4. No legal responsibility for
strategy, actions, successes
and failures
5. Cannot make direct changes
Board of Directors
1. Created to offer guidance
2. Have authority
3. Fiduciary responsibility
4. Legal responsibility for
strategy, actions, successes
and failures
5. Can make direct changes

4. Skills & need based recruiting
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When you know what you are looking for you have
a much higher chance of finding it!
• Your advisory board member profiles – what do you
need according to your strategy, goals, challenges &
opportunities
• Competencies, skills & connections

5. What’s in it for the Advisor?
– Being part of something that is new and exciting
– A wish to help
– Have a lot of ideas that someone=you can use
– Getting connections
– Getting it on the resume
– Good for the Advisors own business
– Bragging rights
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6. Remuneration?
Yes/No/How
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7. Where to find the right people
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– People you know
– People someone you know, knows
– Linked-IN
– Advisory Board web-sites
– Headhunter
– Networking
– Clients
– Suppliers

8. How to get the most out of your board
– Work with the board as a team, 1-1 or pair
– Build personal rapport
– Add names and bios to your web-site
– Informal communication when appropriate
– Monthly or quarterly high-level advisory board update
– Feedback on vital progress or set-back’s immediately
– Agenda for each meeting even 1-1 or pair.
– Specific topics for specific skills and expertise
– Minimum 2 conferences calls or meetings per year
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9. Agreements
– Agreements?
– Liabilities protection?
– Term limits?
– Non Disclosure Agreement?
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10. Pitfalls
• You do not have an objective for your use of the
advisory board
• The people on the advisory board have too little time
• You have picked someone with the right name, but
wrong skills for your needs
• Discussions are scattered and not focused on your
‘next steps’
• You do not have enough time to cultivate the
relationship with each member
• You appoint too many advisors at a time.
• You do not invest in the time. It takes 20-30 hours
quarterly to manage a board effectively
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11. Personal Pride
– An Advisory Board is there to challenge you.
Don’t be offended by suggestions the advisors give
you
• You might not agree
• You might already know it
• He/she might have told you earlier
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12. Lena Beck Roervig
CEO & Co-Founder
•
Beck Global Consulting, LLC
44W 28th St. 8th fl.
New York, NY 10001
mail@lenabeck.com
+1 917-803-0831
www.beckglobalconsulting.com
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13. • Lena Beck Roervig specializes in High Performance Board
Development, Executive Coaching and Leadership Development. She is the
CEO & co-founder of Beck Global Consulting LLC.
• Lena has been characterized by others as an energizing and engaging
consultant and business leader, equally successful in building collaborative
partnerships with senior corporate executives, Boards of Directors, and
investors as well as front-line operating teams worldwide. She is a unique
combination of visionary, operating executive, turnaround specialist, strategist
and company advocate. She understands how to make leaders and managers
perform, get clarity and achieve outstanding results.
• Lena holds a Master of Science in Economics from Copenhagen Business
School and has completed additional executive management education at
INSEAD in France and Singapore, and Henley Business School in the UK. She
has lived in Copenhagen, London, Cannes, and now runs her consulting
business from New York City.
• In addition to her work activities, Lena offers pro-bono advisory services for a
number of not-for-profit organizations and provides guidance and support in
relation to effective board structure strategies. She serves as an active
member on several Boards, including the American Scandinavian Society and
the American Friends of the Danish National Gallery. She is the Chairman of
the Vibeke Roervig’s Ballet Foundation.
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