Do you ever look at CEOs and wonder, “What makes them so successful?” I‘ll tell you their secret: It’s not what they know, it’s who they know. Every great leader has a board of directors — smart people who challenge their thinking.
But, what if you don’t have a board of directors? Well, with AI, you can build your own, entirely for free.
Your AI board of directors can help you transform your decision-making processes and get unstuck in minutes. The time you save can help you level up your work and focus on what you love in your personal life. Below, I’ll share the 10-minute process I used to build a personal board of directors.
How to Build Your Board of Directors
Before you start prompting, choose your favorite AI chatbot. For this example, I’ll be working with ChatGPT o3-mini-high. However, if you have a free account, ChatGPT 4o will get the job done. Now, let’s begin.
1. Choose your board of directors.
The beauty of an AI board of directors is that you can pick anyone you want. That might be:
- Your role models in business.
- Consultants with full client rosters.
- Experts with direct experience on the problem you’re trying to solve.
- Or a combination of the three.
For my example, I want my board to include amazing entrepreneurs and leaders with diverse experiences. These different perspectives give me a better chance at finding solutions for challenging problems.
Remember, there are no limitations when dreaming up your board. Ask yourself: Who would I go to for advice if I could choose anyone, living or dead? Who has already done what I’m trying to do?
Those people are your ideal board of directors.
2. Have AI write and refine the prompt for you.
My favorite way to write an AI prompt is actually to have AI write the prompt for me. Once I have my list of people, I ask ChatGPT to help me write a prompt that can unlock insights from my ideal board. Here’s what I wrote.
Initially, ChatGPT gave me a list of each entrepreneur’s key attributes and why they are iconic. While that’s a good start, I want more information. So, I switch on OpenAI’s deep research feature, which allows the LLM to better understand each board member’s qualifications.
I ask for summaries that focus on the unique experiences and qualities that make each person on my list great. In other words, I want to know what makes each of these founders uniquely them? ChatGPT then generates a deep dive on each person, complete with citations.
From there, I ask ChatGPT to combine this information with my initial request. The result is a thorough prompt that can power my AI board.
3. Give the group a scenario.
Now, I’m ready to consult my board of directors. I take the prompt I’ve enriched with detailed summaries of my board members and add it to a new ChatGPT window. Then, I plug in the specific question I want to ask those people. For my example, I’ll focus on growing my podcast Marketing Against the Grain.
With all of this information, ChatGPT gives me advice from each board member in their own voice. I love this approach because it helps me move more quickly. By treating my AI board like collaborators, I can refine my strategy faster with new perspectives that challenge my thinking.
Of course, just like talking to people in real life, you will always have more context on your problem than anyone else. This exercise is great for tackling your biggest problem of the day, but not every piece of advice it tells you is going to be perfect or immediately actionable. That means you’ll need to evaluate each response and decide what advice is worth taking.
Making the Most of Your AI Board
Your digital board of directors can help you think in new and different ways. Once you’ve created and refined your prompt, you can use it again and again. Just plug in a new problem, swap out a board member here and there if you think someone else would have a more valuable perspective, and you’re good to go!
You can also use your prompt to create a custom GPT that allows you to simply plug in your question. No need to copy and paste the entire prompt every time.
Most importantly, build a habit of consulting your personal board of directors every time you have a problem. This will get you accustomed to embracing feedback from people with unique experiences and train your mind to think differently. That alone will make you more successful than 95% of the people out there.
To learn more about leveraging AI to fast-track your problem-solving skills, check out the full episode of Marketing Against the Grain below:
