Before Giving Advice, Consider This FirstFor best results, keep roles and conflicts of interest in mind.

Q: I'm grooming an employee to run my next location, but she has also developed (on her own time) a prototype for a product that can benefit clients in our field. She kept me informed about the project, and I've been providing ongoing feedback.

I declined her offer of partnership because I don't want to divert time and money, but I'm tempted. She intends to keep working for me and is also looking for investors to take her product to market -- but recently, with my feedback, she turned down an investor we thought wasn't trustworthy. I'm happy to continue advising her, but could my involvement backfire?