Board Of Directors

I've had this idea rattling around in my brain for about three years now, and last night we finally made it happen.  The idea is to assemble a group of 6 or 8 women and act as a board of directors for one another's lives.  Not a support group or anything that would focus on brokenness, but a group of capable women who will commit to helping with goal setting, brainstorming, and practical strategies for getting around blocks.   The focus of the group is life balance -- interested equally in personal development in the professional, social, romantic, physical, spiritual, or creative spheres.  So we talked a lot about balance and when we went around talking about where we were, what we had to offer and where we felt stuck or underdeveloped we touched on a whole variety of our experiences.

Nobody in Maine can use the word "diverse," and we deliberately restricted the ages of participants to between 30 and 40 so we would feel we were all peers, but the range of skills and temperaments of the women in the group range pretty widely.  We have a Harvard Business School graduate and a woman who dropped out of high school.  We have an executive in the insurance business and a working artist.  But the focus of the group isn't exclusively, or even primarily, professional.  It's just as important that we have an accomplished telemark skiier and a woman who doesn't exercise at all.  A woman who figured out how to rewire the electrical system in her home and a woman (me) who is paralyzed at the thought of re-tiling the bathroom.  We have the queen of the hipsters and some real preppies.  The whole point of the group is that we recognize that the particular professional or social box someone is in isn't a complete picture of their experience or potential, and so we're making ourselves available to help one another stretch into new realms. 

Although some of the women are socially connected with one another, we tried not to select people who were close friends, so the group wouldn't have any strong cliques in it.  We agreed that although stronger friendships might be nice, that's not the purpose of this group, and everyone was clear and supportive about putting a formal structure to the meetings.  We're going to meet every other month for about two and a half hours, over dinner [NOT at anyone's home].  We'll have a kitchen timer on the table and do a check-in of about 5-6 minutes per person.  Then we'll do an in-depth focus on two members, who will each have about 35 minutes to talk about their 12 month goals, and the places they're feeling stuck or blocked, and the group will help strategize ways to move toward those goals.  Extending the meeting or anyone's time will take a group vote -- the default  assumption is that we will stick closely to the allocated time, so that people come prepared and organized, and can rely on the meeting's ending time, and nobody will resent the group or anyone in it. 

The part I like the most is the 6 hours.  In between meetings, each member commits to give 6 hours of time to another member to help them with something.  You can divide it up any way you want: 4 90 minute chunks, or one 6 hour day, whatever.  But you have to use up your 6 hours helping the other person with something that's in their way.  It could be going to the gym with them, or helping them sort through a shoebox of receipts to put their finances into Quicken, or reading and commenting on a letter they've been meaning to write to an estranged sibling.  The helping pairings are not reciprocal -- so you're helping one person, and getting help from another.  I think this will be the most interesting part of the group.  It's so rare to ask for practical help from people, and making a date and having a supportive and helpful accomplice can be so very useful for getting unstuck.

This was a kickoff organizational meeting.  I think it went pretty well.  First real meeting is January 4th.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

Comments

[misspixie]

I really love this idea. How do you possibly find the right kind of women for this sort of a group, though? This is the kind of thing that I'd love to be a part of, but wouldn't know how to start. Keep us posted on how it goes!

[Dylan]

But do they have to vote to approve any "mergers" in your future? Can they fire you and put a new CEO in charge of your life?

I could use the latter service.

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