Why Can Choosing the Right Advisor Accelerate or Jeopardize a Company’s Growth?
In an increasingly complex business environment, choosing the right advisors can either accelerate—or jeopardize—a company’s growth.
The advisory board has ceased to be a mere differentiator and has become a key component of good governance, offering leadership a structured space for dialogue, strategic provocation, and more qualified decision-making.
However, the effectiveness of a board is directly linked to the quality of its members. Contrary to popular belief, a good advisor is not defined solely by their professional track record; one of the most common mistakes is confusing prestige with relevance.
A good advisor is not necessarily the most renowned executive in the sector—but rather someone who can contribute coherently with the company’s stage, culture, and challenges.
In this article, we will discuss the fundamental competencies of an advisory board member who truly adds value.
What Defines a Good Advisory Board Member?
Experience Compatible with the Company’s Stage
The first and perhaps most neglected competency is the suitability of one’s career trajectory. The ideal advisor does not need to have led an organization in the same sector or of the same size as the company they will join—but they do need to have faced challenges similar to those the company is currently experiencing.
The criterion here is not just revenue, but the degree of operational complexity, the strategic moment, and the type of decision at stake. An advisor who has operated in very different realities may bring repertoire, but will rarely have the sensitivity and empathy for the context.
As Ram Charan, a global reference in governance, states: “Effective advisors are those who know how to translate their experience to the reality of the business they serve—and that requires more than knowledge, it requires strategic empathy.”
Critical Distance and Impartiality
Impartiality is one of the ethical and functional pillars of any board. An advisory board member must, above all, be independent—emotionally, financially, and relationally. This means not only having no family or ownership ties with company members, but also maintaining enough distance to disagree firmly and impartially.
Companies that form boards with friends, family, or former colleagues run the risk of reproducing the same thought patterns that already exist internally. Impartiality, when well exercised, allows the advisor to point out blind spots that partners, due to excessive proximity, cannot see.
Ability to Navigate Between Technical and Strategic Matters
A common mistake is to assume that the role of the advisory board member is to provide ready-made answers. In reality, their value lies in asking the right questions, structuring strategic thinking, and enhancing the quality of decisions made by managers and partners.
Therefore, it is essential that the advisor has technical mastery over certain topics, but without falling into the trap of acting as a consultant. They need to bring structured provocations, anchored in real experiences, and support the debate with data, analogies, and solid references. An advisory board member is different from a consultant.
Broad Vision and Diverse Background
Companies are often trapped by their own mental algorithms: partners read the same authors, follow the same benchmarks, and validate decisions with the same interlocutors.
The advisor needs to be a breaking point in this cycle—not by confronting, but by renewing the references that guide leadership’s thinking.
They should be someone who moves between different sectors and models, thus being able to offer new perspectives on the same problems.
A good practice when choosing the group of advisory board members is to seek out people who are in markets different from the company’s area of operation. This diverse perspective is a source of important practices and innovation.
Clear and Constructive Communication
More than being a good speaker, a good advisor needs to know how to organize ideas, ask relevant questions, and sustain disagreement wisely.
In this case, communication is not a performative skill, but a strategic one: it is about helping the entrepreneur organize their dilemmas and reflect more clearly.
Effective advisors avoid ego bias. They know their role is not to be right, but to help the company make better decisions. Therefore, they practice active listening, avoid simplistic answers, and are open to ambiguity—an essential trait when operating in uncertain environments.
Another important characteristic of an advisor capable of leading constructive communication is provoking experimentation. Testing, monitoring, mapping, failing, and adjusting are responsibilities that an advisory board member should and can suggest to partners.
Conclusion
The advisory board is, above all, an instrument of intelligent governance. Its value lies in its ability to broaden managers’ perspectives, challenge critical decisions, and anticipate risks. But this is only possible when its members are chosen based on criteria that go beyond resume prestige.
Relevant experience, impartiality, technical empathy, broad vision, and strategic communication: these are the foundations of an advisory board member who generates real value.
Because, in the end, it’s not just about having advisors. It’s about having the right people around the table to discuss what really matters.
