The Bold of Directors
Build a mutually beneficial inner circle of like-minded people who want you to win.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 80%
Cohen reframes the corporate 'board of directors' as a 'bold of directors' — a curated network of like-minded people who share your goals and genuinely want you to win. The defining feature is mutual benefit: it's about how you can help each other, who you know, and how you connect, not one-sided taking. She rejects the self-made myth entirely, insisting everyone got a helping hand somewhere. Because you become the sum of the five people around you, deliberately choosing that circle is one of the highest-leverage bold moves you can make.
Origin
Cohen credits her own comebacks — like returning to music-industry contacts to pitch herself as a label trainer — to relationships she'd built across the industry. She built her whole belief around the idea that nobody succeeds alone and that a helping hand, however small, is always somewhere in the story.
Core principles
- 01No one is self-made — someone lent a hand along the way.
- 02You are the sum of the five people you surround yourself with.
- 03The relationship must be mutually beneficial, not one-sided taking.
- 04Surround yourself with people who want you to win, not lose.
- 05Help is often small — advice, a couch, a meal — not grand gestures.
How to run it
- 1
Audit your current five
Recognise that you are the average of the five people you surround yourself with, and honestly assess whether your current circle elevates you.
- 2
Select like-minded, win-wanting people
Identify people who share your goals, want you to succeed, and are good to riff with — then deliberately put yourself around them.
- 3
Make it mutually beneficial
Approach the relationship with 'how can I help you?' as much as 'how can you help me?' — trade introductions, advice, and support both ways.
Pro tip Small help counts: a couch to sleep on, a meal, or a piece of advice can change someone's trajectory.
Watch out Constant one-sided taking breaks the relationship — reciprocity is the point.
In the wild
After quitting her music-industry job, Cohen went back to a label she had a relationship with and pitched becoming their in-house trainer on a retainer, leveraging contacts she'd built across many labels.
→ One label became two, then three, and she built an entire fitness business — proof that her network, not solo effort, unlocked the opportunity.
Common mistakes
Believing you're self-made
Cohen calls the self-made ideology 'a load of crap.' Someone always lent a hand, and denying it blinds you to the value of building a supportive circle.
Only taking from your network
Treating relationships as a one-way extraction of favours destroys the mutual benefit that makes a bold of directors work.
Is it for you?
Best for
Ambitious people building a career or venture who need a supportive, reciprocal circle.
Not ideal for
Those seeking purely transactional, one-way favours rather than genuine mutual relationships.
From the transcript
“this thing called the bold of directors, which is creating... a network around you. Who are like-minded, who have the similar goals... who want you…”
“you are a sum of the five people you surround yourself with, right? That's just a known fact”
“no one is self-made. I don't believe in that. I think that's a load of crap.”
From the episode
Jennifer Cohen: Bigger, Better, Bolder. How to Get the Life You Want by Being Bold
Jennifer Cohen