CEOs – Page 5

Peer Advantage & The Opposite Strategy

Remember the Seinfeld episode when George Costanza employed his “opposite strategy?” Meaning, if he did the opposite of what he thought he should do, life would work out better. Earlier this week, I talked about the four ways we engage our peers. We typically connect, network, optimize, and accelerate – in pretty much that order. CEOs, however, should adopt Costanza’s “opposite strategy.”

While most business leaders, generally speaking, connect more than they network. They also tend to network more than they optimize and optimize more than they accelerate. (And for most, they don’t accelerate at all). CEOs, whose time is extremely valuable, should take a page from George and invest their peer engagement activities in the opposite order. CEOs should accelerate first, then optimize, network, and connect.

Why? Because CEOs should invest their time, where they get the most value. It’s essential that they get out of their company and industry silos to engage in rich conversations with a diverse group of fellow CEOs who truly empathize with the magnitude of their responsibility. Ask any high-performing CEO in a group. Your peers will broaden and deepen your knowledge and help you lead your organization more effectively.

Next, optimize. Take what you learn from your CEO group— your ideas and your understanding about how high-performing groups collaborate—and show your people how to lead groups that optimize inside your organization. Networking involves purposeful interaction with select individuals who can help you and your organization grow. What you gain from accelerating and optimizing will help you be an even more purposeful and more successful networker. Finally, stay connected. Connecting will help extend your reach and provide you with an additional knowledge channel for both intentional and collateral learning.

If it’s good enough for George Costanza… I’m just sayin’!

*Image from screenrant.com

The 4 Ways We Engage Our Peers

In The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership, Growth & Success, we stated that business leaders tend to engage their peers in four major ways. They connect, network, optimize, and accelerate. To connect is to literally make connections. This involves meeting new people (online or in-person), extending our reach, and even seeking advice from “peers” with whom we share a common interest. For example, if you want to read a book, you might check with others who’ve already read it to see what they think. You may not know any of them individually, but you’ll consider the prevailing sentiment of the group as a powerful data point. So much so that, according to The Shelf, 92% of consumers trust this source of info over branded content!

When we network, it’s typically more selective and purposeful. It’s when we reach out to specific individuals who can either help us get a job, find a business partner, secure financing for our next venture, etc. – or who knows someone who can! There’s no quid pro quo necessarily, but there is certainly an expectation of reciprocity in the event that the person who is helping you today needs your assistance in the future.

Great teams optimize. It’s about people working together, chasing perfection in the pursuit of excellence, to achieve a common goal – usually during a more concentrated period of time – a basketball season, perhaps (pick your favorite sport). Individuals may be asked to sacrifice their personal goals to achieve an overall team objective. You’ll forgo being the leading scorer and help make everyone around you better, thus increasing the team’s chances for success.

Finally, there’s accelerate. This is what top CEOs and business owners do when they step outside their company and industry sector to grow as leaders, think strategically about their business, and focus on its long-term future. By working with their peers, they participate in an exercise of “empathetic accountability.” CEOs work with peers who understand what’s like to make decisions that impact an entire organization and industry – people who know exactly what it’s like to sit in the CEO’s chair.

We engage our peers just this way and pretty much in exactly this order. None of us does it alone. That said, most leaders never experience what it means to accelerate and experience peer advantage. They engage in the first three only. In my next post, I’ll talk about why ALL CEOs should accelerate and why THEIR peer engagement puzzle comes together a bit differently.

Taking Peer Advantage On The Road

When I discovered this image of the hitchhiker, I saw it as a metaphor for my new venture to take peer advantage on the road. It’s a twist on the African proverb, I guess: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, you’ll get there faster if someone gives you a ride.” None of us does it alone, and unless we all give each other a lift from time to time, we’re not likely to get very far and we certainly won’t get there fast.

Peer advantage is what CEOs and business leaders experience when they are more selective, strategic, and structured about how they engage their peers. It works because who you surround yourself with matters and, because of this, CEOs and business leaders can help each other in ways they just won’t find anywhere else. Despite how well it works though, not nearly enough of them engage their peers effectively. In a 2013 study at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, the data revealed that nearly two-thirds of CEOs don’t receive outside leadership advice. It also says that nearly all want it. So let’s show them how to get it!

On August 7th, I announced the expansion of the thought leadership initiative I started during my six-year tenure at Vistage Worldwide. My plan is to share “the boundless benefits of peer advantage” with business leaders across the globe. Why? Because of the difference I’ve seen it make in the lives of countless CEOs and business owners and, in turn, how they have helped their employees, families, and communities in the process. I simply want to call attention to what is undeniably effective and share it with the millions of leaders who are currently going it alone.

To do that, I’m going to need lots of rides along the way, and I’ll need you to give others a lift as well so we can spread the word together and reap the rewards peer advantage affords our society. Thanks to all of you who have hired me as a speaker, read my blog posts, listened to my podcasts, and shared the power of peer advantage on social media. There’s much more work to do. If you get a moment, have a look at the complete announcement and let me know what you think! As always, thanks for reading. Ideas welcome!

*Image from Huffingtonpost.com

Peers Achieving Critical Mass

Ric Franzi’s unique experience as a business leader and expertise with leading peer groups for CEOS and other senior level executives contributed his driving a content rich interview on his show Critical Mass for Business. You’ll also want to add his book, Critical Mass: The 10 Explosive Powers of CEO Peer Groups to your reading list. Enjoy the interview and the book!

https://www.podbean.com/media/player/x3pa7-600215?skin=7

Publishers Weekly and The Power of Peers

I’m a big admirer of Howard Gardner, who among other things, codified the theory of multiple intelligences in his 1983 book Frames of Mind. I’ve always enjoyed how he answered his critics and defended his theory without being defensive. Debates with scholars inspired more conversation about his work, which I would imagine was precisely what he wanted. These are the kinds of healthy exchanges that drive engagement and promote understanding about new ideas.

In that spirit, I’d like to address a few points Publishers Weekly (PW) raised in its April review of our new book, The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership, Growth & Success (PoP).

PW – “The premise of this book is that CEOs are lonely and isolated and a peer group can help them connect, network, and accelerate their business problem-solving and decision-making. This may be true, but co-authors Shapiro, a former CEO and current board member, and Bottary, a current v-p of a business peer advisory membership organization, point to no research studies directly on point…”

PoP – This is technically correct and also one of the reasons we wrote the book. While we point to a number of studies that speak to trust, CEO isolation, and other related topics, the literature specific to peer advisory groups for business leaders is scant to say the least. We hope that’s not the case in 5-10 years. When you consider what’s available when it comes to the study of leaders and followers, it begs the question as to why there has been so little focus on the people who stand beside us in business. I’m involved in a study right now that will examine learning outcomes for CEOs who participate in peer advisory groups. We invite more people to discover the wellspring of research opportunities in this area.

PW – …and offer up examples that more often involve small business owners than CEOs of major corporations.

PoP – While most of the stories in the book come from owners and CEOs of small to mid-sized companies, we also clearly address the point that CEOs of larger companies do participate in peer groups. The implication that CEOs of larger companies would not likely receive the same value as their counterparts running smaller organizations is unfounded. CEOs of larger companies simply have different conversations, challenges and opportunities, and the dialogue that ensues during their group meetings reflects that. Based on our experience and research, that’s the only difference.

PW – “The book abounds in optimistic observations such as ‘Being vulnerable is liberating’ and ‘Our peers… hold us accountable.'”

PoP – It’s a bit of a smart-ass way to make the point, but I can appreciate the desire to add a dash of spice to the review. If anything, among the hundreds of stories we had at our disposal, we left out those that seemed just to good to be true. It’s the members who abound with optimism, we just captured their words.

PW – “It makes clear how to create such a group, but isn’t clear enough on why CEOs should want to take part.”

PoP – To address the first clause, let me say, “Excellent and thank you!” Because that’s exactly what we hoped to do. As for the second clause, we didn’t presume to tell people what their goals should be. If you want to run a marathon, surround yourself with other people who want to do (and have done) the same thing. Cheer each other on, offer training tips, and hold each other accountable for completing your training. That’s what group members do for each other. It can help you get across the finish line, whether you want to run a race or run a company (of any size). Generally speaking, people are really good at setting goals; they’re just not nearly as good at enlisting the support of people who can actually help them achieve those goals.

Summary

Thanks to Publishers Weekly for being as engaging, lively, and thought provoking as advertised. Keep raising issues and inspiring healthy dialogue and debate. It’s what happens in any peer advisory group meeting worth its salt. For those of you who’ve read The Power of Peers, I invite you to use the comments section here to ask questions and raise any concerns, doubts, etc. you may have about peer advantage or peer advisory groups for CEOs and business leaders. While you’re at it, if you’ve never read Howard Gardner, add that to your to do list! 😉

Emerging From The Learning Danger Zone

Every once in awhile, I find myself entering what I regard as my learning danger zone. It’s when I realize I’m writing more than I’m reading. Upon my return from a recent vacation in Europe, I decided to rectify that by diving in to Jim Kouzes’ and Barry Posner’s latest book Learning Leadership. As I expected, I’m extremely glad I did. Building on decades of research and their previous books The Leadership Challenge (now in its fifth edition) and Encouraging the Heart, among others, Kouzes and Posner suggest that leadership rests inside all of us. We are all capable of being leaders and the world needs us now more than ever. All we have to do is be willing to try and dedicated enough to bring our leadership talents forward.

The focus of this book is about learning how to learn. The best leaders are learning leaders. Their five learning leadership fundamentals include:

Believe you can
Aspire to excel
Challenge yourself
Engage support
Practice deliberately

In a world where we’re bombarded with leadership tips and quotes, Learning Leadership challenges us to dig deeper. It starts with believing in yourself. The authors shared a Native American parable, that struck a chord with me, and I’d like to share it with you:

One evening, an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace. love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?” The grandfather replied, “The one you feed.”

So if you feed the good, aspire to excel, and you’re willing to challenge yourself, then enlisting the support of others and engaging in the daily practice (the daily “doing”) of leadership is what it will take to be your best leadership self.

Best of all, the authors provide self coaching advice throughout the book that will help you successfully navigate this lifelong journey. One suggestion is keeping a daily journal. If I did that, maybe it would keep me out of slipping into my learning danger zone. I look forward to trying it. Order your copy today! You’ll be glad you did!

Five Factors for Peer Advantage

Recently, I (Leo Bottary) sat down with Mike Richardson, who is an organizational agility expert and Chair for Vistage Worldwide. We talked about how peer advantage provides organizational leaders with an agility advantage. In this brief excerpt, I offer an overview of the five factors that help business leaders realize true peer advantage, as outlined in The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership, Growth & Success.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXm48yuw4gs?rel=0&w=640&h=360]

UCONN Women's Basketball: Peerless

Last April, statistician and writer Nate Silver dubbed the UCONN Women’s Basketball 2015 squad as the most dominant college basketball team on earth. Fast forward to April, 2016 and the dominance continues, with UCONN adding a fourth consecutive national championship, the team capped an undefeated season (its 6th all-time) with an average margin of victory of nearly 40 points per game. UCONN won its semi-final game at the Final Four against Oregon State by 29 points and the final against Syracuse by 31 to win its 11th national championship since capturing its first title in 1995. Wow!

Mia Hamm once said, “It’s harder to stay on top than it is to get there.” So how does Connecticut do it and what can we learn from this incredible team? In addition to the strong peer-to-peer culture I described in two earlier posts, UCONN optimizes in ways other teams don’t. In our book, The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership, Growth & Success, we talk about four ways we engage our peers. One of them we call optimize!

We optimize when we work together in teams to bring a high level of excellence to achieving a common goal. Leaders often form organizational “tiger teams” to tackle special projects. The Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy’s flight demonstration squadron, conducts debriefs following every (what we see as perfect) flight to talk about how they can do better the next time. Top sports teams participate in practices that are often more rigorous than the games to ensure top performance when it truly counts. Former UCONN and current WNBA star Sue Bird says that no women’s basketball team practices like they do at Connecticut. And as an ESPN analyst, she’s been to a lot of women’s college basketball practices.

The work of optimizing tends to take place among a more homogeneous group of peers and be temporary in nature, determined by either the length of a specific project or the span of a season. When it comes to business, we need to take time to practice, and we certainly should make the time to bring people together for debriefs. Unfortunately, most companies don’t do much of either. I believe we could have more companies that are consistently great, if people would just do what it takes to make that possible.

Longtime Runners’ World writer Joe Henderson once said (and I’m paraphrasing), it’s not always about doing things no one can do, it’s about doing things anyone can do but don’t. While UCONN has three of the best players in the country graduating in the next month or so, it’s likely that next year’s team will continue to do what most teams don’t, and by believing in each other, they’ll be poised for another fantastic season.

Why Everyone Should Watch UCONN Women's Basketball – Especially CEOs

The image I selected for this post is obviously not related to basketball. Instead, I chose a photo most of you will recognize from one of the most dramatic moments in all of sports – Secretariat winning the 1973 Belmont by 31 lengths – check out the video). Jack Nicklaus, the dominant golfer of his era, recalled watching the race alone at home and being moved to tears by this overwhelming performance. (It still gives me chills). I’d like to talk about why everyone – especially CEOs – should watch the NCAA Final Four for Women’s basketball (Sunday, 4/3 and Tuesday night, 4/5).

Last week, Dan Shaughnessy released a tweet and subsequent Boston Globe article stating that UCONN Women’s Basketball is simply too dominant. So much so that it’s hurting the women’s game. Shaughnessy argues that it’s the competition that matters, and if the outcome is considered a certainty before the game starts, then why should anyone watch? If he’s right and that were actually the case, then we would pay to watch anybody play a sport, right? Try assembling a bunch of average basketball players in a major arena with the simple promise that it will be a close game. How many tickets do you think you’d sell to that one?

It’s a flawed argument. Sports fans pay their hard earned money to see the best! They pay to watch outstanding individual players and teams in their respective sports perform at the very highest levels. Close games can be exciting, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing more incredible than watching a team or an individual player firing on all cylinders. Just think about the last time you witnessed a performance that challenged, and even expanded, your understanding of greatness. I bet you can remember it like it was yesterday.

Dan Shaughnessy asserts that next week’s women’s Final Four isn’t worth watching because it’s a forgone conclusion that UCONN will win the national championship. I would argue that you won’t want to miss it. It will be a sight to see!

UCONN will prepare for the Final Four with same level of effort and discipline they’ve given for every game all season. That’s who they are. You’ll see a team that is talented and well coached, certainly. Yet look more closely, and you’ll discover a powerful peer-to-peer culture that’s been evident since winning their first national championship in 1995.

Over time, that culture has only grown stronger, as every player who has put on the UCONN jersey over the years has left a piece of themselves behind. Opposing teams are not simply suiting up against Breanna Stewart, Moriah Jefferson, Morgan Tuck, and company, they’re playing UCONN greats Rebecca Lobo, Shea Ralph, Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, and the countless former players who live in the hearts of this year’s team. That’s why UCONN is so tough to beat!

In our book The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership, Growth & Success, we highlight UCONN women’s basketball as a shining example of what’s possible when teams realize peer advantage to the degree it exists at Connecticut. While we invite you to read about it because of what UCONN will teach you and your organization about pursuing and sustaining excellence, be sure to watch the Final Four and see this team in action for yourselves.

Ron Turcotte looked over his left shoulder before crossing the finish line at the Belmont because, “My curiosity got the best of me,” he said. This weekend, be curious and watch one of the greatest teams in the history of sports do what they love to do. It will be well worth watching.

Peer Advantage & Communication

To realize peer advantage – the outcome of being more selective, strategic, and structured about how you engage your peers – effective communication is essential. One ground rule that I learned in a most unfortunate way, back in the ninth grade, is that when you send someone a message (verbally or in writing), you are also responsible for the receipt of the message by your audience as intended. I didn’t learn this important lesson in a classroom or working for the school newspaper. I learned it during a track meet, and as you’ll discover soon enough, you’ll see why I’ve never forgotten it.

To make a long story short, I was on the track team for that one year. I typically ran the mile, but at the last meet of the season, I was also asked to fill-in as the third leg on our undefeated one-mile relay team. No problem I thought. I had practiced this many times and was looking forward to contributing however I could. I ran the third leg, starting slightly back in second place. By the time I was ready to pass the baton, I had taken the lead. Our anchor leg was the fastest kid in the city. No way we could lose. As I was passing the baton, I felt a brief moment of excitement, until of course the baton hit the ground. So much for our undefeated season.   I was devastated, and I don’t think the members of that relay team have spoken to me since. After the race, I was searching for answers as to how this may have happened. Turns out, the coach wasn’t bashful about offering me some clarity, stating in no uncertain terms that it was my fault. “You should never let go of the baton until you’re certain the receiver has grasped it,” he said.

It’s hard to miss the relevance to communication. Like it or not, the responsibility lies with those delivering the message, not those receiving it. You can’t just say, “it was in the e-mail” or “sure, it’s right there in paragraph 8.” If you want to experience true peer advantage, you have to accept the responsibility that comes with it. You should never let go of the baton until you know that the recipients have received the message. It’s only at that point you can relax and let them run with it.

Next week, I’ll cover how the concept of triads in peer advisory groups offers true peer advantage when it comes to effective communication. Among other things, employing triads will provide extra insurance that will help you avoid what happened to me.