“As an owner-operator, the buck stops with me,” Das told me. “Payroll, culture, customer relationships. All of it.”

Capital, talent management, and operational discipline were givens. The differentiator was building an advisory board that could offer counsel, experience, and wisdom. The best advisory boards offer not just borrowed prestige but borrowed perspective.

In security and public safety, advisory boards are often viewed as symbols of prestige. We’ve all seen triumphant press releases (and maybe heard the implied musical fanfare in our heads) cataloging recognizable names from the military, government, and the corporate world. Those names have significant value. They signal credibility, bring name-brand recognition, and reassure investors, customers, or partners. But the best advisory boards go beyond those functions, compensating for leadership blind spots, widening perspective, challenging assumptions, and helping organizations navigate complex operational environments.

So how do you pick the right people with the right traits and mindsets for your advisory board? In my conversations with leaders who have both assembled and served on advisory boards, contemporary operational relevance surfaced as a top attribute.

For example, Marvin “Ben” Haiman, executive director of the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Virginia (CPSJ), emphasized staying current. “The world of public safety is rapidly evolving and the practice of how agencies respond, analyze problems, and seek solutions looks different today than it did five years ago,” he said. “And with the rate of technological advancement, will look significantly different in just a few years’ time again.”

Others echoed this sentiment. Cameron Chell, CEO and executive chairman of the board at drone company Draganfly, recently established a public safety advisory board after almost three decades with the company. Chell emphasized that operational currency alone is not enough. Advisors also need experience, perspective, and an understanding of how organizations absorb change culturally as well as technologically. “We wanted folks who were current with the latest operational requirements for obvious reasons, but also those who had seen fundamental change many times over within public safety over the decades,” he told me. “Understanding change management and how to handle that culturally is as important as the new technologies themselves.”

Advisory board leaders also cited the value of multiple lenses.

“The more perspectives that you can surround yourself with the better decisions you can make,” emphasized Haiman. “Different experiences, different knowledge, and different vantages help effective public safety leaders think through and select the most effective strategy.” In both organizations that he runs — CPSJ and the National Association of Professional Staff in Public Safety — Haiman says that his diversified advisory teams are critical to helping grow and reach a wider audience.

The interaction of diverse perspectives can make meetings more dynamic and productive. “Having an advisory board allows me to run meetings as a problem-solving forum with ideation and creativity that only a group dynamic can offer,” added security engineer Das.

With perspective comes “prospection,” or the long view. “I feel my advisors can add most in long-term matters such as training, new ways to organize the company, strategic compensation, recruitment, and competition,” said Das. Day-to-day leadership remains his own.

Humility and mission focus are other key attributes of advisory board members. The best boards don’t cloak themselves in ego and prestige and churn out pat advice or abstract platitudes on strategy. They fixate on operational realities, mission outcomes, and user experience.

As Draganfly’s Chell put it, “Sometimes technology is only part of the solution. The answer may instead involve rethinking procedure or process.” The larger point is that effective advisors are willing to convey unpopular wisdom, including the limits of technology and the power of aligned governance.

That wisdom shouldn’t be strident or oversold, however. A common theme is that excellent advisors show judgment and restraint. Experienced advisors often protect leaders from overconfidence and premature action.

Asked what kind of mistake a good advisor could help his company avoid in year one as a startup, Das mentioned “mishandling inherited team and key talent decisions.” That’s exactly the type of issue where an unguided business founder might otherwise shoot from the hip.

Judgment and restraint become especially important in environments moving at breakneck speed, where expectations of rapid product releases and updates can create pressure for premature action. Chell stressed that sometimes it’s best to take your foot off the gas pedal of technology or short-term growth. Advisors can make that message easier to accept.

Based on feedback from advisors, “We’ve slowed down product and feature releases, spending more time directly integrated with customers, testing and re-testing,” he said. “In our 27-plus years of designing and building drones, we have more often than not been first and fast innovators. We are happy at this moment in time within Public Safety to take a fast-follower approach,” Chell continued. “The stakes seem so much higher and more complex than in the past and the tech seems to advance so much faster.”

Strong leaders seek informed difference of opinion and build structures that challenge and sharpen their thinking. The best advisory board members are not baubles or status symbols. They are sounding boards, translators, challengers and connectors. They help organizations think clearly in environments where technology, public expectations, operational realities — and risk — are evolving faster than ever.