Better in 30: Build Your Personal Board of Directors (Udemy.com)
Create a trusted group of advisors who support your growth, decisions, and long‑term success.
Created by: Deborah Grayson Riegel
Last updated August 2026
What you will learn
- Identify the right people for your board
- Recruit mentors, sponsors, and advisors
- Communicate your goals clearly
- Maintain strong relationships with board members
- Avoid common mentorship mistakes
- Build a board that evolves with your career
How it compares
Against the other 115 rated Udemy courses in Career Development on CourseDuck:
- Rating4.6 out of 5higher than 69% of them
- Reviews787#23 of 116 by number of reviews
- Length0.5 hoursshorter than 98% of them
- Last updatedAugust 2026more recently than 91% of them
Course Description
You do not have to navigate your career alone.
The most successful professionals rarely rely on a single mentor, manager, or colleague for every kind of guidance they need. Instead, they build a network of trusted people who can offer different perspectives, expertise, encouragement, connections, and candid feedback.
Think of that network as your personal board of directors.
In this focused Better in :30 course, you’ll learn how to intentionally build a personal board of directors that can support your career growth and professional development. You’ll identify the different kinds of people who can add value to your “board,” assess where your current network is strong, and recognize where you may need to develop new relationships.
You’ll also learn how to approach potential board members without making the relationship feel awkward or overly formal. A personal board of directors does not require an official invitation or recurring meeting. It is about building authentic professional relationships with people whose perspectives can help you make better decisions and continue growing.
You’ll learn how to:
• Understand the purpose of a personal board of directors
• Identify the different roles people can play in your professional network
• Evaluate the strengths and gaps in your current network
• Choose people who bring different perspectives and experiences
• Build relationships before you need advice or assistance
• Ask for guidance in ways that respect other people’s time
• Maintain mutually valuable professional relationships
• Use your network to think through career decisions and opportunities
• Expand your professional support system over time
Whether you are early in your career, preparing for your next move, stepping into leadership, or simply looking for a more intentional approach to networking, this course will help you build a stronger circle of professional support.
In about 30 minutes, you can begin creating a network that helps you make better decisions, broaden your perspective, and move through your career with greater confidence.
Instructor Details
- 4.6 Rating
787 Reviews
Deborah Grayson Riegel
Deborah Grayson Riegel is a keynote speaker, executive coach, author, and leadership communication expert who helps professionals communicate more effectively, lead with confidence, and navigate the everyday challenges of working with people. She teaches at Wharton, Duke, Columbia, and Peking University and has worked with leaders and teams at organizations including Google, Amazon, BlackRock, and NASA.
Deb is also a contributor to Harvard Business Review, Psychology Today, Fast Company, and Forbes, where she writes about leadership, communication, workplace relationships, and professional development.
Throughout her career, Deb has helped professionals at every level build the practical people skills that make work better—from communicating clearly and confidently to giving feedback, managing teams, navigating difficult conversations, facilitating effective meetings, presenting ideas, and adapting to an evolving workplace.
Her teaching combines research-backed insights with practical tools, relatable examples, and strategies learners can put to use immediately. Whether you're a new manager, an experienced leader, or simply looking to become a stronger communicator and colleague, Deb's courses are designed to help you build skills you can use in real conversations, real meetings, and real workplace situations.
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Reviews
By KARTHIK VANKAYALA on 7/5/2026
Yes, it was a good match for me. The course provided useful insights on career growth, networking, and professional development, which I found valuable for my future career.
By Tonya Howard on 5/12/2026
Excellent course. I just absolutely love Deborah's style, the way she explains the topics. I wish she had more courses here in Udemy!!!
By Caitlin Sawyer on 3/17/2026
This short course gave a brief overview of what a personal board of directors is and gave actionable steps to creating one. I enjoyed it and am glad it was not too long. However, some of the downloadable resources were not available.
By David Ball on 2/11/2026
A good course overall. I am a fast reader and prefer this over audio but reading the transcript and moving on does not seem to mark sections as complete. The AI role play could do with more time available as it is a practice conversation, and as I am typing, it may take longer to create a response than a spoken answer. There is also a lot of information given on the presenter as part of the course which could be left as a separate entity to the course as while it is nice to know, does not aid in the course content. The role-play activity used AI which while is a helpful tool, is not what I would expect for a well thought out course. I would also suggest an edit to the slide which quotes Maya Angelou's poem as writing it out in that format does not make grammatical sense and takes away from the meaning of the poem being quoted. The course content and the materials provided were very helpful, and I did end up learning a lot about building a personal board of directors and what that means.
By Christina Lyles on 12/29/2025
The instructor is very knowledgeable about helping someone to understand where they want to be in their professional life. So far she has me thinking and making goals for my future in my professional like.
By Lauren Vigil on 12/10/2025
I really liked the way Deborah delivered this content and it made me feel enthusiastic about starting a Personal Board of Directors for myself. I also value how interactive this course was. Very helpful! Thank you!
By Charles Ferguson on 4/29/2025
Great course, having a group you can turn to and expect honest answers, input and knowledge is a wonderful thing.
By Adrian Barker on 1/15/2025
The detailed levels of information provided are actually fascinating. Building yourself along with your goals from the ground up can be challenging at first but the self-reflection and strategy helps.
By Michael Raj Raj on 7/14/2024
Deborah is amazing. She has taken me through the course really well. This is definately an eye opener. I always thought only Board of directors are in big companies/ firms, never knew we can use them for our personal growth as well.
By Sean Fitzgerald on 6/27/2024
It is always a great idea to get thoughts of others and widen the viewing lens which we use. This allows a greater viewpoint to build upon.
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 92 / 100












