I’m often asked “Why did you agree to chair a group of 8-16 CEOs for Vistage?”
Follow my career and you’ll see that my passion is helping good people unleash their potential. I’ve studied human psychology, strategy and organizational systems in order to facilitate efforts by good people to be consistent winners.
Vistage is for leaders who want more for themselves and their companies. They agree with Jim Collins’ insight that Good is the Enemy of Excellent. They understand that one of the best ways to encourage leadership development by their team is by openly developing themselves.
Marshall Goldsmith commented about this, after hearing General Mills’ CEO Steve Sanger talk about his development to 90 of his colleagues. Dr. Goldsmith noted that twenty years ago, few CEOs received feedback from their colleagues. Today, many of the world’s most respected chief executives are setting a positive example by opening up, striving continually to develop themselves as leaders. In fact, organizations that do the best job of cranking out leaders tend to have CEOs like Steve Sanger who are directly and actively involved in leadership development.
Michael Dell is a perfect example. As one of the most successful leaders in business history, he could easily have an attitude that says, “I am Michael Dell and you aren’t! I don’t really need to work on developing myself.” But he, has taken the opposite approach: sincerely discussing his personal challenges with other leaders.
Vistage New York isn’t for everyone. It’s for leaders at all levels who are committed to improvement by being open to new ideas and perspectives, willing to make public commitments to peer advisors and being held accountable by them and an expert coach. The CEO Game Changers, as our CEOs call themselves, proudly announce that they want to be the best they can be and will change when appropriate.
If you haven’t yet applied to be part of Vistage New York, think about how you and your team and your family spend their days, and ask: “Is that all there is? Could it be better? Am I prepared to find out?” If you want more, let’s meet and see if you qualify for one of our groups.”