Many of us have a trusted circle of advisors to whom we turn for insight and guidance on all sorts of issues, like career-building, starting our own companies, investing, and business development. Our trusted circle of advisors may include friends and family, mentors, colleagues, and friends of friends.

We carry these people, our trusted circle, around with us like a well-worn blanket, the kind we had when we were children and refused to part with – even when that blanket had become so well-worn with our love that it was nothing more than a tangled mass of fibers.

We never saw our blankie that way. To us, no matter how degraded it became, we continued to see only the pristine, soft, and reassuring blankie what was a constant comfort to us along life’s travails. Perhaps the most famous blankie-carrier is Linus van Pelt, from the comic strip Peanuts®.

How worn is your business blankie?

Your competitors, investors and customers, regarding you and your trusted circle of advisors from the outside-world-looking-in, may consider your business blankie as something of an old-boys or sorority network.  Perhaps you still hang out with everyone from your high school or country club. Any way you choose to look at this, from their perspective, your blankie is well past its prime purpose.

Your business blankie may not be serving you well in today’s globally competitive economy. [Read more...]