Who’S In Your Kitchen Cabinet?

Seeking out opinions, expertise, and advice from others is a sign of strong leadership, according to author Dan Quiggle who has written about President Ronald Reagan’s advisory kitchen cabinet. Whether it’s politics or business (or life decisions), you can follow these 7 suggestions for putting yours together.

1.Get over your desire to be right.Reagan chose to fill his kitchen cabinet with trusted advisors who were accomplished in their own rights, and whom he knew would be tough with him when necessary-not yes-men.

2.Stock your cabinet with a variety of viewpoints.Find people with a variety of different viewpoints and knowledge sets. Include people who disagree with you (but won’t undermine you).

3.Keep it small.Start with only two to five people whom you trust and admire. Smaller groups can be more effective, and there’s less chance individual egos will take over.

4.Don’t over formalize things.No formal invitation, no procedure, just sit and share advice and insight.

5.Keep in mind that you may need more than one brain trust.You may need to assemble different brain trusts for different tasks.

6.Hear everyone out and take their advice to heart.If a majority isn’t in favor of something, you might want to rethink.

7.Make sure everyone shares your success-oriented vision.Make sure everyone shares your success-oriented vision. After all, responsibility for making sure your kitchen cabinet shares a vision falls on your shoulders.