The Brain Trust
Replace the one all-knowing mentor with a domain-matched advisory bench
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 92%
Bloom argues mentorship in the traditional sense is a fading concept, because it implies a single person out there whose map matches your entire terrain — professional and personal — plus a very high level of open-ended commitment on their part. Ask someone senior to be your mentor and it lands as a burden, so they decline. The brain trust is the 21st-century alternative: a group from different backgrounds and experience sets, with real domain expertise, that you call on at different inflection points. It needn't be formal, and nobody needs to know they're on it. You go to whoever has the relevant perspective for the challenge in front of you. Selection criterion: they must be willing to tell you the truth and give hard feedback. The side benefit is relational — people love giving advice, so a well-spaced ask deepens the bond and keeps a network warm rather than draining it.
Origin
The concept originates at Pixar, which runs a brain trust for every movie it makes — a group of people not involved in creating that film who pressure-test it, make sure the storyline works, and check that it tugs the right strings. Bloom adapted it as the 21st-century replacement for 20th-century mentorship.
Core principles
- 01No single person's map matches your whole terrain.
- 02Asking someone to be your mentor is asking for an enormous open-ended commitment.
- 03Different inflection points need different domain experts.
- 04It doesn't need to be formal — nobody needs to know they're on it.
- 05People genuinely enjoy giving advice; the ask is a gift if it isn't constant.
- 06A brain trust member must be willing to tell you the truth.
How to run it
- 1
Drop the single-mentor model
Stop looking for one person to navigate all your challenges. That implies their map matches your terrain and that they'll commit indefinitely — which is why the ask gets declined.
Pro tip Never say 'will you be my mentor?' It sounds like a lot of work, especially to someone with a demanding path.
- 2
Map your terrain by domain
List the areas where you predictably need guidance — fundraising, hiring, distribution, health, marriage, whatever your inflection points actually are.
- 3
Recruit silently, one expert per domain
Identify people from different backgrounds with genuine domain expertise in each area. The trust doesn't need to be formal and no one needs to know they're part of it.
Pro tip Prioritize people who'll give you the hard feedback over people who'll make you feel good.
Watch out A bench of flatterers is worse than no bench — it launders bad decisions.
- 4
Earn the seat with value first
Before you draw, deposit. Come with research, an intro, a solution to a problem they have — not 'let me pick your brain.'
Pro tip An hour of research on someone plus one concrete proposal makes you a different category of person to them.
- 5
Call on them at inflection points only
Bring a specific live challenge: 'this thing came up — have you ever faced anything like this?' Concrete beats open-ended.
Pro tip This doubles as the most natural possible way to stay in touch with someone you want to keep warm.
Watch out Don't ask something every day. Overstep and the goodwill inverts.
- 6
Let the cadence stay light
Once a quarter or once every six months is enough. The bench compounds over years, not weeks.
In the wild
Pixar convenes a brain trust for every movie it creates: a group of people who aren't involved in making that film, brought in to pressure-test it and help make it better along the way. They check that the storyline works and that the film is tugging on the hard strings the right way. Because they're outside the production, they can see what the makers can't, and because it's an established ritual, the hard feedback is expected rather than resented.
→ A repeatable outside-perspective mechanism that Bloom argues you can build for your own life — informally, and without anyone needing to know they're on it.
When Hala Taha started podcasting, Jordan Harbinger was top of the food chain and knew far more than she did. Rather than asking him to be her mentor, she messaged him periodically on Instagram with growth strategies she'd tested — this platform, this cost per subscriber, this retention. Pure deposits. Eventually he told her she clearly knew what she was talking about and suggested a call. When his script writer bailed, he asked her to write his ad; she just did it, without negotiating a price first.
→ He became her mentor and they are now, in her words, the closest industry friends — a relationship Bloom notes people will later mislabel as luck.
Common mistakes
Asking 'will you be my mentor?'
It reads as an unbounded, high-burden commitment — especially to someone senior with a demanding job — so the answer is usually no.
Stacking the bench with people who agree with you
The requirement is people willing to tell you the truth and give hard feedback. Comfortable advisors provide validation, not perspective.
Over-asking and burning the relationship
The mechanism works precisely because the cadence is light. Ask something every day and a warm relationship turns into an obligation.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and operators facing varied challenges across domains they've never navigated before.
Not ideal for
Deep apprenticeship in a single craft, where sustained one-on-one instruction genuinely does beat a distributed bench.
From the transcript
“A brain trust is a group of people from different backgrounds and experience sets that you can call upon for advice or guidance about different…”
“it implies that there is a single person out there who has all of the answers that can help you navigate the terrain that you…”
“The origin of the concept is from Pixar. They do a brain trust for every movie that they're creating.”
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