Anyone who has sat down to discuss something weighty or contentious with their friends has experienced the echo chamber. We tend to surround ourselves with people who are like us, similar in beliefs and interests. This is good for friendships, where too much contention can mean disaster, but bad for business.

In the echo chamber you’re not only hearing the same things over and over again, but nearly always phrased in different ways, tricking you into thinking that these are different ideas rather than just ones reinforcing your existing idea. This plays off of a psychological concept known as “confirmation bias,” our inherent desire and tendency to hear information that backs up our own beliefs and hypotheses.

The solution to this is simple, because we already have the frame work to do it. Most of us have more than one group of friends, organized around different things we share in common with them. We experience echo chambers because we treat these groups like self-contained entities. Instead, we should treat ourselves as the link or information broker between these different groups, drastically increasing the diversity of voices speaking into our situation.

Being the information broker allows you to escape the echo chamber and bring valuable insight back to your situation.

The BoardSeat Solution
BoardSeat, a new kind of professional networking site—recently launched on Kickstarter—introduces yet another resource for avoiding the echo chamber. BoardSeat connects you to your own Personal Advisory Board—a group of individuals relevant to your experiences and goals—to help you navigate the pitfalls of your career.

Because these people are relevant to your career and goals but not associated with your place of employment, they’re an invaluable resource of advice and insight, allowing you to be the broker of that information.

Information brokers are the people who are noticed when it comes time for raises or promotions. They’re the ones bringing fresh ideas and solving problems because they’re the ones with access to outside-of-the-box thinking. With BoardSeat, anyone can be that information broker.