Many leaders try to go at it alone, without the support of wise counsel. Wise counsel and experienced advisors can make the world of a difference to your business.
Every leader needs a few advisors, we cannot have deep knowledge about everything. Advisors are experts in their fields and can help us in those respective fields. Some examples of advisors are accountants, lawyers, architects, and similar professionals.
Having an accountant for example who can help you use a tax efficient strategy to save money on tax is a huge asset for your business. But it requires a deep understanding of the tax laws, knowledge you don’t have the time to gain.
Finding the best advisors is hard, and handing control over to them can be harder, but it is necessary as you grow as a leader.
Advisors are paid for their expertise, but this expertise are often expensive. We often look at the price rather than the expertise of the individual, leading us to hire the cheapest rather than the best.
When looking for advisors, hire the best you can afford, as in most cases they will more than pay for their fee in the value they bring. You need to balance quality and price.
The world of ai has exploded over the past year, and now Ai can be an advisor as well. If we use our accountant example from earlier, you may be able to pull up a summary of the tax codes in your country, go through them, and find the tax breaks yourself.
Is ai better than a human advisor? That is up for debate and likely varies from subject to subject. However, what is clear is being able to use ai by asking the right questions is crucial. Asking a broad question to your human account could be okay. They would be able to decipher what you asked and work out what you are actually asking. An ai cannot do that, and so you need to ask the right questions.
Further to this, asking better questions to your human advisors will also yield better answers and results.
Every leader needs a team of advisors to help them in the areas in which they are less knowledgeable. They can be expensive, but the expertise are worth it.