Our LinkedIn Family is a wonderful resource when it comes to specialist services and finding good people to bounce ideas off and seek advice from.

Some of the LinkedIn groups I’m part of, particularly Women in Wills, are full of people you may consider colleagues in your profession.  Some become friends. They’re a special bunch of people in my professional world.

Former bosses are a good source of expertise, if you’re still in touch with them.

My family is made up of many different and varied religious and spiritual persuasions, and someone one said to me that we should utilise God not as a spare wheel, using when we’re in an emergency, but as our steering wheel.  My step Mum keeps a prayer list.  So if there’s anyone or anything I know requires prayer, their brief needs are sent to Sittingbourne in Kent, and God is involved.

Music can be a great form of solace, and part of a process for many. If you’ve ever experienced being in the presence of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No. 2, you may know what I mean.  Great ideas and solutions often come, when you put yourself in that environment (or if that environment is put on you, if you have Classic FM on as you drive).

Sometimes the self is a good place to turn. I regularly allow myself scheduled thinking time, to work through an issue.

Children!  We don’t tend to go to children for advice.  Can you remember a time when a child said something to you which was clearly very sensible and actually a very good solution to a problem?  This may have taken you by surprise.  And with kids, you know what they say has no agenda. Unless somehow there’s an opportunity tied in somewhere for a trip to McDonalds.

Personally, the person who trumps all, for me to seek advice from, is my dear old Dad. He recently helped me navigate a tricky professional situation, with his typical and loveably eccentric offerings. He’s always there ready with an anecdote, quote or joke, and he’s invariably spot on.

Who do you turn to for advice?