Category: innovation

Will peer advantage gain traction?  Can it be as common to the business lexicon someday as Emotional Intelligence is today?   The short answer is “yes.”  Why?  Because CEOs need peer advantage every bit as much as the cavemen needed the wheel.  In a recent conversation with Miguel Dias, Founder and CEO of CEO World, he reminded me of the cartoon of the cavemen ignoring their peer’s offer to make their lives easier.  While this cartoon is a “slightly altered” version of the original, it illustrates an important point.

It’s what every CEO peer advisory group leader must feel like when he or she reaches out to a CEO with a solution to a problem that too many CEOs don’t realize they have.   And if most CEOs took just a minute from being “too busy,” they could be reminded that who you surround yourself with matters and, because it matters, CEOs and business leaders can help each other in ways they just won’t find anywhere else.   In this fast-changing, complex world of ours, none of us should try to go it alone.

In the book, The Power of Peers: How the Company You Keep Drives Leadership, Growth & Success, Vistage Chair Bob Dabic said that participating openly in a peer advisory group involves fighting off a caveman mentality and its 10,000 years of human conditioning.  Today, too few people avail themselves of the myriad benefits of enlisting the support of their peers.  Fortunately, the wheel became an everyday part of our lives.  Sooner rather than later, so will peer advantage.

In a recent interview with HBR, Yo-Yo Ma talks about successful collaboration and the power of peers.  I’m not suggesting he referenced our book per se, but during the first seven minutes or so of the 18-minute interview, he touched on the concepts from our book that relate to working successfully with peers and how much our peers can challenge us to grow and see the world in different ways – to understand how two truths can co-exist if we are open to learning.  I encourage you to listen to the entire interview.  Pay close attention as he talks about keeping your ego in check, being vulnerable, learning rather than judging, valuing generosity and mutual respect, and understanding why surrounding yourself with the right people is so important.   It’s music to my ears.  Enjoy!