So you are in the C-Suite. You have a high-functioning leadership team, a great group of friends and a wonderfully understanding spouse. Awesome, but who do you talk to about the challenges you face running a business? One that truly understands the complexities of strategy, finance operations, marketing, staffing and all of the other elements of a functioning business as a whole?
CEOs and business owners who have never participated in a peer advisory group meeting are naturally apprehensive about what goes on. They always want to know – how can this help my business? How can I afford to spend a full day away from my business? Why do business leaders join these groups and what is the takeaway? They’re all good questions that should be asked by a CEO. Here’s why.
Fresh Perspective
Bottom line, if you’re not steadily acquiring new knowledge and fresh perspective, your business will suffer. It’s important to get out of the hectic pace of day-to-day business operations, expand your knowledge and get you thinking strategically about your business. How valuable would it be to hear how another CEO/business owner overcame a challenge you’re facing today? You may believe that you have considered every possible angle of that issue you’re facing, but in a peer advisory group, it’s more than likely another member will have insight that never occurred to you. Each of us brings different talents and experiences to the table, but everyone benefits from a spirited, no-holds-barred examination of major business issues. There are no “Yes” people in a peer advisory group. CEOs need honest feedback that can only come from others who have walked a mile in the same shoes.
You may believe that you have considered every possible angle of that issue you’re facing, but in a peer advisory group, it’s more than likely another member will have insight that never occurred to you. Each of us brings different talents and experiences to the table, but everyone benefits from a spirited, no-holds-barred examination of major business issues. There are no “Yes” people in a peer advisory group. CEOs need honest feedback that can only come from others who have walked a mile in the same shoes.
CEOs need honest feedback that can only come from others who have walked a mile in the same shoes.
Trust and Confidentiality
The rewards of being with a group of trusted confidants with the free sharing of ideas and perspectives are significant. It’s important as a CEO to hear views that are not just within your industry but from outside your industry. In this venue, you’ll quickly see how an environment of openness and confidentiality breeds trust and empathy for one another’s challenges.
A member grappling with, say, an issue around succession and exit planning may be experiencing precisely the challenge you faced last year. Or, another member will discuss their concerns about expanding their business into a new market – just the issue you see looming on the horizon for your own business. From these shared experiences, members rapidly grow to trust one another with their most pressing professional (and personal) concerns. Like everyone else, business leaders need to be able to connect with others on an intimate, trusting level. The best people to connect with are those in a position similar to yours. A peer advisory firm offers a sense of belonging and its members help each other overcome that “lonely at the top”, isolated feeling that’s been nagging at them.
From these shared experiences, members rapidly grow to trust one another with their most pressing professional (and personal) concerns. Like everyone else, business leaders need to be able to connect with others on an intimate, trusting level. The best people to connect with are those in a position similar to yours. A peer advisory firm offers a sense of belonging and its members help each other overcome that “lonely at the top”, isolated feeling that’s been nagging at them.
A peer advisory firm offers a sense of belonging and its members help each other overcome that “lonely at the top”, isolated feeling that’s been nagging at them.
