Rehoboam started right away to consult the elders, but rejected their counsel to go along with his childhood friends.

1 Kings 12:6. And king Rehoboam consulted with the elders who stood before Solomon his father while he was still alive and said, How do you advise me to go back to answer this people? 7. And they spoke to him saying, If you will be a servant to this people this day and will serve them and answer them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever. 8. But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9. And he said to them, What counsel do you give that we go back to this people, who have spoken to me saying, Make your father’s yoke lighter which he put on us? 10. And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him saying, Thus will you speak to this people who spoke to you saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but you should make it lighter for us. You will say this to them, My little finger will be thicker than my father’s loins. 11. And now whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I shall add to your yoke. My father has chastised you with whips, but I shall chastise you with scorpions. 12. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day as the king had appointed, when he said, Come to me again the third day. 13. And the king answered the people roughly and forsook the old men’s counsel that they gave him 14. and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men saying, My father made your yoke heavy and I shall add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I shall chastise you with scorpions. 15. Therefore the king did not listen to the people, for the cause was from the LORD*, so He could perform His saying, which the LORD* spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.