PMI-LA Events

Session Description:

In today's rapidly evolving project management landscape -- shaped by AI-driven workflows, hybrid delivery models, and accelerating career transitions -- navigating professional growth has never been more complex or consequential. Yet most project managers rely on a single mentor, a loosely connected network, or informal advice that comes too late and lacks the diversity of perspective needed to make bold, confident career decisions.

This interactive workshop introduces a proven framework for building your Personal Board of Directors (PBoD): a carefully selected, strategically assembled group of trusted advisors who provide ongoing guidance, honest feedback, diverse perspectives, and accountability as you advance in your career and personal growth.

Drawing from leadership development research, real-world case studies, and PMI-specific career insights, participants will move beyond the concept into action -- mapping their current network, identifying gaps, crafting personalized outreach messages, and committing to their first concrete steps before leaving the room.

Whether you are an emerging project manager looking for your first mentor, a mid-career PM preparing for a leadership transition, or a seasoned practitioner looking to maximize the impact of your advisory relationships, this session will give you the tools, frameworks, and confidence to build and activate a personal board that accelerates your growth.

Format: Interactive workshop with individual reflection, small group activities, and peer accountability exercises. 

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Define the Personal Board of Directors concept and articulate its distinction from traditional mentorship. Participants will understand what a PBoD is, what it is not, and why its multi-advisor, self-curated model provides advantages that a single mentorship relationship cannot replicate -- including diversity of perspective, dynamic evolution, and proactive accountability.
2. Identify the four key roles on a high-impact Personal Board of Directors. Participants will be able to describe the distinct value of each board member type -- the Mentor, Sponsor, Challenger, and Peer -- and explain why each role fills a gap that the others cannot, with particular attention to the often-overlooked Sponsor role and its outsized impact on career advancement.
3. Audit their current professional network and identify gaps in board composition. Using the session worksheet, participants will map their existing advisory relationships to the four board roles, recognize where they have coverage and where they are underserved, and identify at least one to two specific individuals they could approach to fill those gaps.
4. Craft a personalized outreach message to a potential board member. Participants will apply a three-step framework -- connect, specify, appreciate -- to draft a targeted, genuine ask that clearly communicates their goals, acknowledges the potential advisor's unique expertise, and sets appropriate expectations for the relationship.
5. Apply strategies for sustaining and evolving their Personal Board over time. Participants will identify practical approaches for maintaining meaningful advisory relationships -- including regular check-ins, proactive sharing, expressing gratitude, and conducting periodic reviews of their board composition as their career goals evolve.
6. Evaluate how emerging technologies, particularly AI, are reshaping the skills and perspectives needed on a Personal Board of Directors. Drawing on PMI's research on AI and the future of project management, participants will assess whether their current board adequately addresses the digital transformation dimensions of their career and identify what an AI literacy advisor might contribute to their professional development strategy.
7. Commit to at least one concrete action step toward building or activating their Personal Board within seven days. Through a structured peer accountability exercise, participants will articulate a specific, time-bound action, share it with a partner, and exchange contact information to follow up -- converting insight into momentum before leaving the session.

Speakers