As a business owner and senior level executive, why should I be part of Vistage?

1.  Leadership is hard. Doing it alone is even harder.

Olympic athletes have many coaches. Why shouldn’t you?

A recent survey performed by RHR International found that:

The intensity of the CEO’s job, coupled with the scarcity of peers to confide in, creates potentially dangerous feelings of isolation among chief executives. Fifty percent of all CEOs report experiencing loneliness in the role, and of this group, 61% believe that the isolation hinders their performance. First-time CEOs are particularly susceptible to this isolation, with nearly 70% of those who experience loneliness saying it negatively affects their ability to do their jobs. Nearly half of all CEOs estimate that most other leaders experience similar feelings of loneliness.

Sharing with your peers, who understand what you are dealing with, helps relieve that sense of isolation.

2.  Hear the truth.

Imagine how it would feel to have 14-16 peers supporting you and giving you trusted advice on your toughest issues and biggest opportunities. A Peer Advisory Group is a highly confidential setting where your assumptions are challenged and blind spots are exposed.  With no competitors or other biased relationships, Group Members provide you with candid, unbiased feedback.

3. Grow personally and professionally by addressing your toughest issues.

Growth doesn’t happen from being comfortable. Frank questions and discussions with your fellow Group members and Group Chair push you out of your comfort zone so that you can learn and grow.

4. Vistage members get better results.

In a recent analysis, Vistage CEO member companies significantly outperformed the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of the average Dun & Bradstreet U.S. company.

5.  Accountability.

Who holds you accountable for what you say you will do?  Is it sometimes too easy to avoid your difficult issues? Imagine having to report to your fellow Board Members and your Group Chair on a routine basis. Peer pressure and accountability makes an effective environment for prioritizing and executing what is most important to you.

6.  Learn from your peers plus the best experts.

You will learn from your peer CEO’s and Business Owner’s as they discuss their top strategic and operating issues. In addition, with eight expert speakers a year, you will learn how to be a better leader.

7.  The quality of members.

Each member is carefully selected to ensure that each Group has a broad spectrum of perspectives, such as the type of business, while balancing individual members’ strengths and expertise.

8.  Focus on the important things.

Vistage groups focus on strategic, critical operating, and, even personal issues.  This is not a place to whine. It is a place to reflect, see reality and develop a plan to take you where you want to go.

9.  A dedicated facilitator.

This may come as a surprise to you; sometimes CEO’s are impatient and rush toward a solution! A facilitator’s job is to prevent anyone from monopolizing the conversation or dodging the tough questions.  Keeping peer groups working and progressing together is a tough job. Doing it successfully requires someone with special knowledge, experience, training and skills. That person is your Vistage Chair.

10. Group meetings are supplemented with monthly individual sessions.

Follow-up is a vital part of implementing necessary change.  Each month, members meet with their Chair for a private two-hour individual session, where individual follow-up occurs and members have the opportunity to confidentially explore business and personal issues and opportunities in depth.

11. What Vistage Peer Advisory Boards are not:

• An opportunity to blatantly sell to other members. If this is your primary driver for joining a Vistage group, then you are not the right candidate. Referrals and business engagements may occur but only after members have established a level of trust.

• A place to network.  Networking can and does, happen as a result of routine meetings with your fellow group members, but it is the not primary purpose of the organization. We exist to help you become a better leader who makes better decisions and gets better results.