“Why” am I a Vistage Chair in Seattle?

Are you about having conversations that matter? Are you the president, CEO, founder, owner, managing partner or general manager (chief executive) Are you P&L responsible and the final decision-maker? If so, we should talk.

“To overcome the isolation at the top, CEOs need to find people they can trust who can hold up the mirror to them. It’s generally not someone on their management team; most often it becomes someone on the board or a peer CEO or former executive outside the company who has experience with a similar organization. It’s up to the CEO to seek out unvarnished feedback.”  –Dr.Thomas Saporito, Chairman & CEO of Chicago-based RHR

My calling, my passion – my WHY – is about influencing the few who influence the many. Grace for me? Seeing a single, tiny ripple turn into tsunami of positive change. My intention? Drive toward the greater good. Be a whispering catalyst. That sounding board that challenges. An ear that listens without judgment. Empathic. A trusted advisor. Inspiring the extraordinary. Impactful.

I am you. I lived long hours in that lonely C-suite. The intensity of my job and lack of peers to confide in created extreme feelings of isolation. That negatively affected the relationships that mattered most. I believed having a leadership coach was enough. I wasn’t wrong but I wasn’t right–I needed more. I craved raw, blunt, frank, undiluted, candid and honest feedback. That experience informs. I offer you a better way to secure what you value most: less hours worked, quality time with your family, financial independence, business success, etc. with much less risk than I endured. The magic?

Vistage private advisory boards enable business leaders to leverage the wisdom and experience of their peers, the guidance of an expert leadership coach – called a Vistage Chair – and the collective knowledge of the worldwide Vistage community.

This is a group of handpicked chief executives is comprised of eighteen brilliant minds helping each other transform personally, professionally and organizationally. These elite eighteen are gifted, centered and aware. These members see compassion and grace as strengths. They know that the path to courage and noble power is through vulnerability.

In the words of CEO Andy Parham from St. Louis, Missouri:

The content is almost always thought provoking and practical. The one-on-one’s with my Vistage Chair are always the right combination of sounding board and challenge. By far, though, the most valuable part of Vistage for me is the group. We have so much wisdom packed into one group and their only agenda is to help – and they do in so many ways.

The peers in our group ask for and encourage development of each other. Each peer has the other’s back–they hold each other accountable. They want to lead large and be great. They deeply value being one of the eighteen crème de la crème knights seated at the round table in “executive session.” They know that making quick, wise decisions based on limited information is much less daunting inside a network of caring, committed peers.

 A 2015 analysis revealed that members who joined Vistage over the past five years grew their companies at three times the rate of average companies.

If you are dying to learn, grow and development then I welcome the opportunity to build a relationship. As a Vistage Chair, I train fellow members to develop each other as peers. By “coaching the process,” I ensure that the group listens, probes, challenges, clarifies and generates insights for each other. Your “discovery group” is comprised of noncompeting peers. Your group becomes a lifeline for you personally and professionally. By harnessing the energy of your peers, you ask the right questions and arrive at better answers for your most pressing issues, problems and leadership challenges.

One of the biggest secrets to success is operating inside your strength zone but outside of your comfort zone.  –Ralph Heath, managing partner of Synergy Leadership Group

If you’re ready to:

1. Step out of the day-to-day to think differently
2. Gain insights
3. Make better decisions
4. Take bold action
5. Generate meaningful results

then I invite you to learn more about the selection process for my chief executive peer advisory group in the Seattle metro area. Please contact me (206) 890-6858 or kevin.mckeown@vistagechair.com. I seek qualified, noncompeting chief executive candidates in these industries:

• Agriculture/Farming
• Developers/Builders/Construction/Real Estate
• Engineering/Operations
• Financial Services/Banking/Money Management/Accounting
• Hospitality
• Human Resource Management
• Manufacturing
• Marketing/Design/Social Media/Advertising/PR
• Non-Profit
• Professional Services/Legal/Insurance/Consulting
• Science
• Technology/IT (IoT, Cloud, SaaS, Software)
• Transportation
• Utilities

Click to learn Why Vistage?, Vistage at a Glance and Types of Vistage Groups.

Inspired by a true story, this short, 3-minute video shows how two Vistage peers overcame a significant business challenge with the support of their Vistage group.https://www.youtube.com/embed/zZqeMwHV9P4?feature=oembed

My thanks to Sarah Fraedrich, executive business coach, for helping me edit this post. You rock, Sarah!

Contact me: (206) 890-6858 or kevin.mckeown@vistagechair.com