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Forming Your Own Board of Directors 101

basis. This point was indicated in a Harvard Business Review arti-
cle, “How Leaders Create and Use Networks,” by Herminia Ibarra
and Mark Hunter. The article said that when it comes to managing
transition, there are several distinct, but interdependent, forms of
relationships or networks—operational, personal, and strategic.
These networks played a vital role for the managers and leaders the
authors interviewed. The operational network helped managers to
build good working relationships with the people who can help them
do their jobs—to manage their current internal responsibilities. The
personal network helped them to boost their personal development
outside of their usual circles through professional associations,
alumni groups, and personal interest committees. These relationships
helped them to gain a new perspective that allowed them to advance
in their broader profession. The strategic network helped managers
to open their eyes to new business directions and the stakeholders
they would need to enlist. These would include lateral and vertical
relationships with other functional and business unit managers that
helped the manager to achieve important personal and organizational
goals.
Having an integrated and diverse network of people is a smart
and practical way to balance and develop relationships at any career
stage. For example, you might have great and supportive relation-
ships inside the organization, but might also be too insular in your
focus. An accomplished woman executive asked me to lunch and
said she was leaving her organization after 23 great years and was
looking to pursue something different. She said that while she had
great and supportive relationships inside the company, she realized
that she had failed to foster external relationships with peers, indus-
try groups, and professional organizations. She felt as though she
was starting from scratch. She felt out of touch and didn’t know
where to start in terms of building that important network for tak-
ing on another job outside of her company. In Ibarra and Hunter’s