Challenging the Status-Quo

Sharing best practices with other business owners and executives, then bouncing around ideas on how to solve current issues, can provide resources few in these roles ever have access to. When this happens within a group that’s been built strategically to ensure there’s no conflict of interest, or even the perception of direct competition, there can be an unguarded openness that rarely happens in any other setting. And if that’s all that goes on in this type of setting, the juice is already worth the squeeze! But what if there’s also an intentional focus on pushing each member of such an executive leadership council beyond their current situation and toward their desired future states for their respective organizations?

As Cindy and I worked to map out exactly what the quarterly half-day sessions in our Executive Leadership Elite Think Tank would consist of, we knew we had to make sure every single minute we had with the group would have to deliver significant value. As some of the most successful business owners and executives in our area, we knew that time would be more valuable to each of them than any price tag we could ever put on them being part of such a group!

While the first hour of discussing the action steps they had each taken leading up to the session to build a stronger leadership culture within their teams proved to be a great way to share a meal, it could also send the message that we were all doing great just the way we were and that we didn’t really need to push all that hard to improve - and that would have been a huge mistake! I learned long ago that nothing stays the same; we’re either gaining ground or we’re losing ground because the world around us is constantly changing!

Not only have Cindy and I been mentored by some of the best and most effective leaders in the world, we deal with businesses in nearly every industry on a regular basis so we have the very unique opportunity of seeing the most current issues play out right in front of us. To make sure we’re doing our part to keep that group on their toes, we dedicate the second hour to sharing a lesson tailored directly for them based on the  most relevant issues we see top level leaders facing and geared at challenging each of them to push beyond their current status-quo!

Since we do this in a small group setting, there’s always powerful open discussion - and even candid debate - about how the topic is playing out in their companies. The most amazing part is seeing how every single one of us are able to learn from each other during this session!

If we went our separate ways at that point, I have no doubt that everyone would view it as time well spent. But why waste such a rare chance to dig deeper? We all need a little push from time to time and that is exactly what we do during our third hour with this great group of leaders!