Story:
The Power of a Peer Group: How come something so proven is not more pervasive, and what are we willing to do about it?
None of us is as smart as all of us - a safe, confidential and trusting peer group can be a powerful process for innovation, helping with opportunities, problems, challenges and issues of all shapes, sizes and descriptions. I mean a peer group of non-organizational peers, free of any conflicts of interest, hidden agendas and any other dynamics which diminish its powerful potential. How come a human capital investment so proven is not more pervasive, especially inside larger businesses and public corporations, and what are we willing to do about it?
- The power of a peer group is proven as a high ROI human capital investment.
- I spend about half of my time facilitating such groups as a Chair with Vistage International, with peer CEOs and executives from non-competing companies and organizations. I never cease to be amazed at the creative problem solving, issue resolution and innovation which routinely arises from these groups (and, not least of all, management innovation) because of the high functionality of the trust, transparency and dialog. I will share the story of Vistage, now in its 54th year with 15,000 members in 15 countries.
- I spend the other half of my time facilitating CEOs, executives and their teams - I never cease to be amazed at the dysfunctionalities of trust, transparency and dialog, especially in larger businesses and public corporations, which I have to help them overcome.
- Paradoxically, in these organizations that most need it, the power of peer groups is largely absent, as far as I can tell. I will share the story of one of my long time Vistage member CEOs who was just acquired by a multi-billion dollar public corporation which is now questioning her membership of "that groupy thing". That's the latest example of the paradox I encounter frequently - how come those private/small businesses/CEOs who can least afford the human capital investment are so committed to the process/ROI (she is already a 6 year member and, other things being equal, talks of being a lifelong member) and those larger businesses/public corporations who can most afford the human capital investment are least committed to the process/ROI? And what are we willing to do about it?
- We will explore the power of a peer group as a "circle of trust", providing feedback and guidance for the rejoining of soul and role, intellectually and emotionally, tapping into the core source of true leadership.
- How many of our submissions here at the MIX (whether they be Stories, Hacks, Barriers or Blogs) relate to the same core source? The core source of leadership, passion and productivity, and tapping into the potential for natural alignment and attunement, and revving up interest, engagement and contribution. A significant contributory answer is right in front of us (the power of peer groups), if only we can figure out the management innovation required to help it be a more pervasive human capital investment in larger businesses and corporations.
So, I am wondering how a peer group process can be leveraged as a human capital investment by larger businesses/public corporations for the same kinds of ROI benefits that small business members experience. I am starting this "Story" posting to progressively share stories from my own experiences and to invite others to do likewise, to gain greater insight into how peer group processes are being used inside of, outside of and between businesses and organizations, large and small, public and private, as an integral part of their management innovation process and human capital investment..
The rules of the road have changed. Our agility as businesses, organizations and teams is being tested like never before (as outlined in my hack, "In the Driving Seat of Organizational Agility: translating strategy and execution into traction in turbulent times"). Our resilience, sustainability and innovation are being tested to the limits, with accelerating pace all the time, and any shortfalls in adaptability tend to get exposed, very fully and very finally, with few second chances - Darwinian like, whether large companies or small companies, public or private, for-profit or not-for-profit. Managers, executives and CEOs who are trying to develop their strengths (knowledge, skills and talents) to fully fill their role "In the Driving Seat" need all the help they can get. The power of a peer group can make a pivotal difference.
Consider the success story of Vistage International (formerly TEC: The Executive Committee) which was founded in 1957 by a CEO named Robert Nourse in Milwaukee. He started meeting with fellow CEOs in the local area to test a new management innovation - by sharing knowledge, experience and insights could they help each other get better results with their businesses and have better lives? 
The answer was a resounding yes - more than 50 years later, Vistage now has 15,000 members in 15 countries, with accelerating growth over the last 5-10 years. Members represent 1.8 million employees and $300 billion in annual revenues. On average, members out-perform their non-member competitors (in a 2010 analysis, Vistage CEO member companies in the U.S. grew on average at 5.8% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR), while Dunn & Bradstreet companies declined on average by -9.2% over the last 5 years) and grow at twice the percentage rate after joining. Our focus is small-to-medium sized companies in the range of 20-100 employees and $5-50 million annual revenue range (our average members company is about $26 million and 165 employees). This sector is a a critical component of our economy - in the US, small to medium sized companies have generated 64% of net new jobs over the last 15 years and account for 50% of the non-farm GDP (source: The Milken Institute). [See the videos below to experience more of our typical members, the process and the benefits - please excuse the promotional aspects of these videos]
The context of these peer groups is:
- Non-organizational peers - peers who are not from the same company or organization.
- No conflict of interest - no customer-supplier relationships.
- No hidden agenda - as a result, there are no hidden agendas, except a desire to help each other as much as we possibly can.
- No other dynamic which diminishes the potential power of the group - no personality conflicts for instance, or anything else getting in the way - emergent problems get talked about and, if they can't be resolved for some reason, members may be referred out of the group to find a better fit in another group.
- Total confidentiality - nothing, but nothing leaves the confidentiality bubble of the group, not getting shared with spouses or anybody.
- Diversity - of business type, size, age, scope and scale; of member gender, ethnicity and generation - the more diversity the better - when we member comes to their group meeting we want them to be breathing different air.
- Commitment to the process - attending a monthly all-day group meeting (which is split into two halves - a best practice speaker and an executive session) and a monthly one-to-one session with the Chair
- It is a place where we engage in:
- "Care-frontation" - we confront each other directly because we care.
- Questioning answers - we question answers, assumptions and beliefs which are driving behaviors and habits.
- Blind-spots, hot-spots and soft-spots - we shine a light into members' blind-spots, we help members cool down their emotional hot-spots and harden their soft-spots (and soften their hard-spots/sharp-edges).
- Processing issues - the core purpose of the group is processing issues which the members bring - tapping into the power of the peer group context we are describing. In particular, we are at our most powerful when we are processing what I call "wheel$pin issues" - these are those most perplexing and challenging issues members face, on which they have been spinning their wheels for some time. Despite numerous different attempts they are struggling to get into traction. That wheel$pin can be costing them a fortune, as outlined in my hack, "In the Driving Seat of Organizational Agility: translating strategy and execution into traction in turbulent times", in business and/or in life. We process issues all across the map of business, professional development, personal growth and quality of life, helping members be "In the Driving Seat" of their whole life, work and non-work. The reality is, of course, that they are inevitably interlinked, interwoven and often, very tangled.
Consistent with the membership statistics outlined above, the majority of our CEO members come from privately-held/owner-managed businesses, although we do have a significant number of hired-in CEOs and General Managers, including in the corporate and public company environment. We also have programs for senior executives, most of whom of course are hired in.
Here's the interesting thing which suggests to me there is a management innovation waiting to happen here -when members sell to or join larger businesses/public corporations, their membership thereafter tends to be short lived, because their new employer soon takes a red pen to that line item in their budget.
This leaves me pondering the following questions:
1. What is different about the context inside larger corporations and public companies, which causes them to interpret the value-for-money/time value proposition differently and to perceive the ROI of the human capital investment differently?
2. Where do peer groups fit in the bigger system of mentoring, coaching, peer-reviews/360s, training and development in larger corporations and public companies, to help them be the agile, learning organizations they need to be these days?.
3. How can the power of peer groups be leveraged by larger corporations and public companioes to achieve the high functionality of trust, transparency and dialog which is at the core of organizational agility?
Clearly, a peer group process is much easier to achieve outside of a business by means of a membership organization such as Vistage (or one of its competitors). My interest is in exploring ways in which the same can be achieved inside of and between organizations, for similar management innovation benefits which we have been exploring.
One other example I know of is the "20 Groups" program run by the NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association). I have been on the board of a Toyota dealership for many years and the General Manager (who is also a long time Vistage member) attends his "20 Group" for two days, three times a year. A "20 Group" is made up of twenty peer general managers from Toyota dealerships all across the nation, geographically dispersed so that there are no competitive conflicts of interest. They share data, best-practices and process issues to help each other. Founded in 1917, NADA represents more than 17,000 new car and truck dealers, both domestic and import, with more than 37,500 separate franchises and more than 91 percent of U.S. new-vehicle dealers as members, employing about 1 million people in the United States. [See the NADA 20 Group video below - please excuse the promotional aspect of this video].
In his 2004 book, "A Hiiden Wholeness - the journey to an undivided life", Parker Palmer said, “We cannot embrace the challenge all alone, at least, not for long: we need trustworthy relationships, tenacious communities of support, if we are to sustain the journey to an undivided life". By "the journey to an undivided life" he means the rejoining of soul and role, saying, "We are born with a seed of selfhood that contains the spiritual DNA of our uniqueness – an encoded birthright knowledge of who we are, why we are here, and how we are related to others. We abandon that knowledge as the years go by but it never abandons us. As we become more obsessed with succeeding, or at least surviving, in the world, we lose touch with our souls and disappear into our roles. It is not easy work, rejoining soul and role – reaching in toward our own wholeness, reaching out toward the world’s needs and trying to live our lives at the intersection of the two”.
This is one of the best descriptions I have ever come across which nails my experience of the core of what Vistage is about. Parker Palmer goes on to say, "That journey has solitary passages, to be sure, and yet it is simply too arduous to take without the assistance of others. And because we have such a vast capacity for self-delusion, we will inevitably get lost en route without correctives from outside ourselves. That kind of community - one that knows how to welcome the soul and help us hear its voice – I call a “circle of trust”, with a singular intent: to make it safe for the soul to show up and offer us its guidance. A “circle of trust” is defined by the nature of the space it creates between us ... rooted in two basic beliefs:
- We all have an inner teacher whose guidance is more reliable that anything we can get from a doctrine, ideology, collective belief system, institution, or leader.
- We all need other people to invite, amplify, and help us discern the inner teacher’s voice for at least three reasons:
- The journey toward inner truth is too taxing to be made solo: lacking support, the solitary traveler soon becomes weary or fearful and is likely to quit the road.
- The path is too deeply hidden to be traveled without company: finding our way involves clues that are subtle and sometimes misleading, requiring the kind of discernment that can happen only in dialogue.
- The destination is too daunting to be achieved alone: we need community to find the courage to venture into the alien lands to which the inner teacher may call us."
He goes on to say, "In a circle of trust we practice the paradox of “being alone together”. We have much to learn from within, but it is easy to get lost in the labyrinth of the inner life. We have much to learn from others, but it is easy to get lost in the confusion of the crowd. So we need solitude and community simultaneously: what we learn in one mode can check and balance what we learn in the other. Together they make us whole, like breathing in and out. Spaces designed to welcome the soul and support the inner journey are rare. But the principles and practices that shape such spaces are neither new nor untested."
These are the reasons why members join Vistage and stay for many years and, in many cases, for their life long journey. They seek a place where they can "be alone together", simultaneously of solitude and community, in a space that welcomes their soul and our inner teacher's voice. It's about the journey to an undivided life of rejoining role and soul, as an intellectual and emotional journey of our hidden wholeness emerging, which is the true source of leadership. It's about a "circle of trust" which will provide them the feedback they need to invite, amplify and discern their inner teacher's voice. Watch the videos at the end of this submission (please excuse the promotional aspects of these videos) and you will hear members voicing things like the following:
- "It has changed the way we look at our business"
- "You don't go expecting to get an absolute answer - what you go and look for is that support to think through a problem"
- "The honesty of this group is unparalleled"
- "The fact that we can be honest with one another and tell our stories and know that there is no judgment there"
- "I can't do it alone"
- "Its quite eye opening and extremely valuable - I would not be where we are today without Vistage"
- "I can't imagine somebody that was running a business not wanting the privilege to get involved with Vistage - I just can't imagine it"
- "Any human being, if you look in the mirror and are honest with yourself, you realize you are just a work in process - in Vistage, more than anything that I have ever been involved with, helps me realize that everyday"
- "I did not have the business experience I needed to run my company"
- "Many, many years ago I realized that there's a lot of things that I just don't do well, so the things that I don't do well, I need to surround myself with people that do them well and can think a little differently than I think"
- "When we come into our Vistage meetings we shut the door, we hang our ego at the door and we become vulnerable, and we put the real issues on the table"
- "We don't come to conquer the mountain, but to conquer ourselves"
Contrast that with the kinds of environments we often experience, not least of all in larger businesses and public corporations, in which our hidden wholeness of soul and role isn't invited to emerge and stays hidden. Parker Palmer puts it this way, "If we want to create spaces that are safe for the soul, we need to understand why the soul so rarely shows up in everyday life. It is our powerful ego drive to pull everything into ourselves and let nothing live for itself. We have a disbelief in the reality and power of the inner teacher. Convinced that people lack inner guidance and wishing to “help” them, we feel obliged to tell others what we think they need to know and how we think they ought to live. Countless disasters originate here – between parents and children, teachers and students, supervisors and employees – originate, that is, in presumptuous advice-giving that leaves the other feeling diminished and disrespected. In our utilitarian culture it is hard to hold fast to the notion that a circle of trust is not about solving a visible problem: it is about honoring an invisible thing called the soul. A circle of trust has no agenda except to help people listen to their own souls and discern their own truth. Its singular purpose is to support the inner journey of each person in the group, to make each soul feel safe enough to show up and speak its truth, to help each person listen to his or her inner teacher. A circle of trust consists of relationships that are neither invasive nor evasive". It's an ego thing! Indeed, too much ego drive is the number one reason why we will decline to invite a prospective member to join Vistage. We all have ego drive, so instead, we look and listen for the maturity, humility and vulnerability which it takes to have our ego drive well under control and to hang what remains of it at the door.
How many of our submissions here at the MIX (whether they be Stories, Hacks or Barriers) speak of helping our soul to show up, as team leaders and as team members, and the journey to the hidden wholeness of an undivided life, as teams, organizations and businesses, and as managers, executives and CEOs. Indeed, how many of the Moonshots speak of this. Here we have a management innovation of peer groups which is so proven. Yet, why is it not more pervasive in larger businesses and public corporations in particular? As Parker Palmer says, "The principles and practices that shape such spaces are neither new and untested" and I invite you to share such spaces you know of inside of, outside of and between businesses and organizations, large and small, public and private.
Consider the story of my member.
She joined one of my Vistage groups for senior executives 6 years ago back in February 2005, investing one day and about $500 per month in attending her peer group, supported by her owner and CEO. Through a combination of expert resource speakers, issue processing, various exercises and strategic planning (in the context of accountability and confidentiality described earlier), she got and gave a great deal of value, learning a growing in business and in life.
A few years later, her owner promoted her to be President. recognizing in her the capability to lead the business in the next phase of its evolution, growth and eventual sale/acquisition. Coincident with her promotion, we moved her over into my Vistage peer group for CEOs, Presidents and General Managers, for which the investment more than doubled to $1100 per month. In particular, she really started to master the challenge of organizational agility (as mentioned earlier, see my Hack "In the Driving Seat of Organizational Agility: translating strategy and execution into traction in turbulent times").
With her leadership, along with the owner and COO, they weathered the storm well and emerged fitter, stronger and better placed to move from a mode of surviving back into a mode of thriving. At the worst of times, when it would have been so easy for her (or her owner) to red pen the Vistage membership line item from her budget, the ROI remained a must-have. Indeed, members will typically voice things like, "Vistage will be the last thing I cut", as indeed to mine during that phase, including her.
Emerging stronger and getting back to thriving, they were identified by a large (multi-billion dollar revenue) public corporation as a potential acquisition. A price was agreed, a handshake deal was done, a Letter of Intent was signed and the acquisition was transacted at a strike price balancing value-for-money for the acquirer and money-for-value for the owner. She is now the head of a sub-division of a large, multi-billion dollar public corporation with huge synergy opportunities for profitability and growth. Paradoxically, now her Vistage membership is more at risk of that red pen than ever before.
Here's my back of an envelope math:
- Over the 6 years of her accumulated membership so far, her membership dues total approximately $50K.
- Suppose that the value-for-money and money-for-value equations received by the acquirer and the owner were enhanced by just 1% through her accumulated efforts, credibility and continuity as the leader (the acquirer would not have pursued the company if she and others were not staying as the owner is moving on). Sticking with rough order of magnitude numbers, so as not to divulge any specifics, my estimate is that equates to a 10X ROI on her membership dues.
- Suppose that she continued her membership for another investment of $50K (4 years), all she would need to do to breakeven on her membership would be to enhance the market capitalization contribution from her subdivision and the synergies it can catalyze by 0.1%.
0.1% = 1X; 1% = 10X; 10% = 100X etc. That's a human capital investment bet which I would take! Why do so many larger businesses and public corporations fold on that bet? And what are we willing to do about it?
There are clearly challenges and barriers keeping something so proven from being more pervasive in larger businesses and public corporations, and I attempt to capture my sense of some of those here. I invite others to add their sense of the challenges and barriers to allow us to build management innovation solutions.
- Challenge: Apples and Oranges - mis-interpretation and/or mis-categorization of what a peer group is. This is something I run into all the time as so few managers, executives and CEOs have real experience of real peer groups. They confuse it with things they are more familiar with such as consulting, training, or coaching.
I educate them that a peer group has elements of those in it but is distinctly different in nature (as I have outlined in this Story). Next they will usually talk about other things they have in the mix: mentoring; various assessments and profiling tools (of personality type and leadership style etc); peer reviews and 360 degree assessments; whatever else they are proud of as making a difference in their business (balanced scorecard; virtual collaboration communities of all kinds; suggestions schemes; innovation centers etc etc etc). Again, I explain that a peer group has elements of these but is decidedly different. Finally they will typically say that they hold regular group facilitation sessions of their team. Again, I explain that a peer group has elements of that but is decidedly different. Now that we have worked through their well meant attempts at an apples with apples comparison, I explain that a peer group is an orange. In the basket of fruit of human capital initiatives in their business, they probably don't have the orange of peer groups.
- Solution: Figuring out how best to educate managers, executives and CEOs about what a peer group is, how it works, how it is different and how it can fit in with the bigger system of initiatives in a larger business and/or public corporation as part of becoming more agile as an organization. Figuring out how best to support human capital professionals in navigating this challenge.
- Challenge: Red Pen - separation of value experience and budgetary approval. One of the reasons for the success story of Vistage is that typically, for the majority of our members (who are CEOs of an privately held, owner-managed businesses), there is no separation between the experience of the value of a peer group process and the budgetary approval. Because these members have the visceral experience of the value, they say the kinds of things that I have quoted from the videos above and that, "Vistage will be the last thing I cut". Of course, most executives and general managers in larger businesses and public corporations have budgetary approval authority massively exceeding that of a Vistage membership but (as was the case with myself when I was in that kind of role in the corporate world) when it comes to an investment in themselves, they need some kind of sign off from upstairs. Or at the very least, when its budget review time, someone points at that line item and says something like, "what's that, it seems like an awful lot of money for a "groupy thing"". So, take the case of my member who just got acquired by the multi-billion dollar public corporation, who is now having to fight to stop her Vistage membership being red-penned. The the day after the acquisition completed, did Vistage suddenly get less valuable? Did the ROI potential of the human capital investment in a peer group experience suddenly diminish? Did the efficacy of the process and the experience base of the group suddenly become less relevant (keeping in mind, that many, many Vistage members, speakers and Chairs, like myself, have diverse experiences of larger business and public corporations - indeed, my member we have been referring to is ex Fortune 100 in a previous chapter of her career). I would suggest its the inverse - it just got even more valuable and even more relevant to the next phase of her role with an even higher ROI potential. Trouble is, someone upstairs with a red pen doesn't have a visceral experience of that.
- Solution: Figuring out how to give those upstairs a visceral experience of a peer group process (getting into their own groups would be the best way of course - typically, once a CEO Vistage member has been in a group for a while, they quickly put some of the senior executives into their own groups, to help bring more of the value of the process into their businesses) and a gut feel for the ROI. Figuring out how best to support human capital professional in positioning the value-for-money/ROI of the human capital investment.
- Challenge: Logistics, Impediments & Technology Enablers. Clearly, one of the biggest challenges is that the safe, trusting environment which invites the soul to show up (a "circle of trust") is largely predicated on groups being made up of non-organizational peers, which is more challenging to create inside of larger businesses and public corporations. We run into geographical, travel and other impediments, although various technology enablers can help overcome those these days.
- Solution: Figuring out a blended approach of face-to-face and virtual peer group experiences which overcome the logistical impediments without diminishing the "circle of trust" experience (and causing it to default back into being more like consulting, training, coaching and everything else in the basket of fruit which we talked about above, except the orange it was trying to be). Figuring out how best to support human capital professionals in designing a portfolio approach to implement different kinds of peer group experiences at different levels in their organizations.
At the end of the day, the practical reality is that there is only one benefit/metric at the very, very bottom-line which counts. That is cash-flow and, when the analysts do their net-present-value/discounted-cash-flow-analysis, how that feeds into market capitalization and stakeholder value creation (whether the business is a public or private corporation). I know, I know, I am as much a proponent of multiple bottom-lines (societal, environmental etc), ends and means etc as anyone else, but the only safe assumption in my experience is that the raw financial math has to been seen to work too (otherwise we are much more at risk from that red pen from the unenlightened).
I believe the financial payback benefit is proven by the Vistage example/data and, not least of all, through my own personal experience as a Chair with my members. The question is, how can human capital professionals create metrics to evidence that in their businesses, which is a similar challenge they face with their other initiatives, financially and non-financially, ends and means to those ends.
That's why I like to talk about "Wheel$pin" (as outlined in my Hack, "In the Driving Seat of Organizational Agility: translating strategy and execution into traction in turbulent times") which is costing us a $ fortune in avoidable costs and opportunity costs, sometimes with life and death consequences, for the future of our business or certain components/aspects of our business. A peer group process helps us diagnose and treat the sources of wheel-spin in our business (and our life), more transparently than anything else I have every encountered, with nothing off limits - strategy, structure, culture, leadership/communication, mental models, productivity, operations management, goal-setting, execution-excellence, path-finding, executive-intelligence, intuition and resilience, etc etc etc. In a "circle of trust", when non-organizational peers are shining a light into your blind-spots, with care-frontation, there is nowhere to hide. As a result, members feel more composed, confident and courageous, with more balance, less stress and better perspective, translating everything into more traction, not least of all with cash-flow, market capitalization and stakeholder value.
Mike, once again, you have a provided great perspective about a powerful concept. A well managed peer group has almost become a necessity for executive leaders. Thanks for framing the value and purpose so nicely.
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Hello Mike
Thank you for inviting me to comment on your story. As a big fan of Parker Palmer's work (I have a treasured email from him just after 9/11 that hangs on my wall), it's great to see such core ideas presented on the MIX. One of my favorite ideas from his early work, derived from a passage written by Annie Dillard, has to do with the shadows of leadership and the importance of "riding the monsters all the way down." That's always touched me.
I think you've done your analysis well, and I think your barrier related to separation of value experience from budgetary approval is absolutely on target. Once the distance becomes too great, the subjective aspects of the value equation lose their power to sway the decision and permission to participate. To me that has a lot to say about the background default culture of our organizations, translated again and again into the dismissal of human development as being too "touchy-feely" to be of much value. That dismissal defends the system (aka leaders) against self-reflection and guarantees a process of gradual, stultifying bureaucratization. Indeed, there's room for a first order breakthrough, and you are right to call it out.
I don't think, however, the solution in the near term is in selling the ROI of peer groups or other human development work, even for key players. To me, trying to show how the intangibles have value to people who only believe that tangibles have value has become a total waste of time. It's trying to convince people against a rigid form of myopic, conventional logic. And I don't believe you can force, seduce, or even usefully cajole people into a genuine experience. I sense you can only invite and offer a choice, stand up for the experience (as you are doing, Mike) and really let the soul do the rest. Senge in Fifth Discipline makes the point that personal mastery ain't for everybody, and when it is forced (or sold too aggressively) it creates a counterforce that defeats the purpose. I've been to plenty of sessions where something of the opposite was attempted (including a few TEC sessions way back when) and it was clearly unproductive. I remember one such session, for example, in which a local CEO of a rather large local firm wanted to take me on regarding the value of driving fear out of the workplace. "It's not a mature business model," he said to me. It's just a set of anecdotes." And perhaps he was right -- and very wrong, as well. I think the rub, as Parker Palmer had it in some of his early work, is true -- that there can be a fundamental insecurity in leaders. And when you take that insecurity into larger contexts, more intense competitions -- the kind where being a teflon person is more or less required, into bigger organizations, closer to Wall Street and Washington, that insecurity can easily become magnified and sealed off in a way that closes the leader to radical learning. The risks of disclosure become too big and the stakes become psychologically too high. Disclosure per se doesn't have much of anything to do with competitive advantage. It has to do with intra-personal, intra-psychic risk, not interpersonal or corporate risk. That's the nut we haven't cracked. And peer groups, for all their other advantages, actually do not address this nut and fail to foster sufficient leadership growth to alter the most intractable elements of default corporate culture. If they did, managers who had been in peer groups and who valued them would fight harder, take more risks, and actively demand that the human investment be made. They would lead more passionately around this issue, not to force others into the same experience but to call attention to the dilemma, guarantee that the invitation meant something, marshal the resources, transparently ensure people are deeply encouraged and supported if they want to come. They wouldn't take the red pen lying down. They wouldn't let the value experience down. But the point is they don't really fight that hard. Are people willing to lose their jobs if they can't attend their peer group? Is their experience that important? If not, well, you see the problem. They still see it as enough of a trade-off to let it go. The culture is stronger, and risks are too high -- internally. People settle. They get realistic -- code for safe. They protect what they already have. Despite their other good work and their private, often heart-felt commitment to the peer group, they haven't yet developed the genuine internal confidence to stand up to the corporate power structures and actively, positively mutiny against the systems that argue that such forums for personal growth have less value than simply spending more time "on the job." The default culture is still winning because too few of us are actively, vocally, and with our feet bucking the tide. I'm sure you see what I am saying. The answer to your question isn't in finding a better way to sell the existing culture on circles of trust; it is in using circles of trust to generate the energy to overturn the existing culture. It's clear you are already there, probably from having worked so hard and so deeply on your own stuff as you helped others with theirs.
This in no way means that peer groups and circles of trust are not valuable. They are deeply, deeply valuable. In my own way they have been my own best work. But they need to go a lot farther so that that positive mutiny can occur as a refusal to accept the loss of soul in exchange for a few more dollars, promotion, prestige, influence, credibility, security, self-image, and all other forms of "compensation" for that loss. Along with what you've got in your story -- which is fabulous -- my question in a gentle way would be how much of a revolutionary would you personally like to be? You have depth and great perspective. So now, what actions would place a stake in the ground around your own leadership to take on the challenge? Surely, this very submission is a powerful start. Maybe there's a book here, or a life-changing speech, or a public demonstration in the streets of corporate America. I'd say, crank it up ten notches. Imagine what that looks like -- both in how you lead your groups and how you lead yourself. And then you may have some options and choices for how you might want to go forward. In the end, maybe Vistage itself won't be strong enough or big enough to contain you.
Best regards
Dan
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In the spirit of further build, the only very small point I might split hairs with you on is your part about, "Disclosure per se doesn't have much of anything to do with competitive advantage. It has to do with intra-personal, intra-psychic risk, not interpersonal or corporate risk. That's the nut we haven't cracked. And peer groups, for all their other advantages, actually do not address this nut and fail to foster sufficient leadership growth to alter the most intractable elements of default corporate culture". I'm not sure its that black and white - in the shades of grey, I would say its more of an "and" ("intra-personal" and "inter-personal" (i.e. it can flow to corporate risk/competitive advantage) and part of the problem and part of the solution (when the content of discussion/issue processing in a peer group is about the corporate culture and the leadership growth required it can change things - this is often the content of discussion/issues in the groups I run)) and our challenge is to move the needle in the right direction. Again - VERY small point on which I am splitting hairs.
Net, my sense is that you are saying there is a huge mountain to climb, but it is one very, very worth climbing, not through more selling (that's an uphill struggle that is prone to failure) but through more doing ("invite and offer a choice, stand up for the experience (as you are doing, Mike) and really let the soul do the rest" and "the answer to your question isn't in finding a better way to sell the existing culture on circles of trust; it is in using circles of trust to generate the energy to overturn the existing culture"), which is prone to success, over time, and a long uphill struggle. I really appreciate you calling me to action with 'how much of a revolutionary would you personally like to be?" and it speaks to the "sherpa" in me, ready to do the heavy-lifting/load-carrying-support. In a way, as I think you sense, that is why I ended up with this peer group Story being my next submission. I plan to answer your call with the management innovation required (actions/books/speeches/community/a movement) and thank you again so much for it. I look forward to continuing our dialog. Best.
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Hi Mike,
Have had you on my mind because of your request for authentic Sherpa material. Have a true blue mountaineer friend who named both his sons after summiting Sherpas. He once hung at the end of a rope deep in a crevasse for two hours before rescue. I passed your query to him. He was away on an expedition and has yet to respond. Meanwhile I came across an excellent Sherpa reference from where you can branch out: http://www.bergadventures.com/v3_main/Sherpa-Story1.php
Reading your story I felt there was another possible reason for you to favor the Sherpa name: Like the long distance runner they experience isolation and are driven closer to their soul but with a difference – they have a perspective, a vista before them, that gives them reason and this vista improves the higher they climb!
Your “circle of trust” awakened my memory of the Roman custom to have a slave stationed behind a conquering general while he is soaking in the adulation of the crowds lining his triumphal march into Rome. The slave’s duty was to regularly whisper into the general’s ear: “you are mortal”. I think this “feet on the ground” whisper is also amongst the important functions of your peer group. I am aware to a fair extent the whisper is self-induced but it is the group that induces it.
Your story is a question: “How come something….?” Let me turn it around. You say Peer-Groups have a special appeal for CEO’s because they not only share the loneliness at the top but provide a sincere support group. You must have had some CEO members from the corporate world. After experiencing the benefits why did they not promote it with their personnel? I can think of one reason why companies quoted on the exchange may not mingle with your groups: every word spoken outside is a leak and the risk of competition is too high; unhealthy paranoia is their constant companion. This is ironic for it prevents them from being bedfellows with healthy paranoia – the kind that keeps the mind agile.
I have a question: Do marketing folks lose their brashness after becoming members of your Peer-Group?
You have done a cost benefit analysis of Peer Groups. There is one benefit you may have overlooked: the retention of key personnel by the member company. The promise of professional fulfilment is likely to keep them going as in the case of your illustrative executive. USD 6000 a year is just a fraction of the amount it would cost a company to replace and train an incumbent. This is apart from the productivity enhancement of the person.
Finally, have you tried Sufi literature? Its philosophy developed in the vastness and bleakness of the desert.
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Yes, I love your idea of the "you are mortal" whisper and often our CEO members will say of each other and of their Chair that, "no one else is prepared to talk to me like you talk to me" annd indeed I reinforce that with candidate members during the selection/invitation process, adding that they can expect t to have a "love/hate relationship" with me/their peer members as an "and" proposition, as I/we will be reverent and irreverent all at the same time!
To answer your questions:
- Yes, over the years, I have had a handful of General Managers and executives from public corporations and they typically love it as much as other members and typically do promote it with their personnel/executives, often times having some of them join groups and/or taking Vistage inside their business units. The problem is, sooner or later when budgets come under pressure for whatever reason, someone upstairs wields the red pen (one of the challenges I highlight: "Red Pen - separation of value experience and budgetary approval).
- The public-company/confidentiality/risk-of-leak/price-sensitive-information concern is rarely a show-stopper as its no different to external consultants working inside public corporations and members sign a confidentiality agreement, which can also be supplemented by the public company member if they really need to. If it is a show-stopper its usually an excuse.
- All members, not just marketing members, tend to become both i) more rounded, smoothing of sharp edges/corners where appropriate/relevant) and ii) developing those edges/cornerstone pieces where they are appropriate/relevant. An "and" proposition of becoming the right shaped peg for the right shaped hole. If by "brashness" you mean being overly self-confident/forward/presumptive then yes, other members won't tolerate that and will quickly weigh in (sometimes in the first meeting) with "care-frontation" (which I mention in the story). On the other hand, if they detect a member is not being self-cofident/forward/presumtive enough, they will weigh in on that too. Does that answer your question?
- Yes, I agree wholeheartedly - that hidden cost of turnover/disruption is huge and ought to be more prone to being red-penned by investing in peer groups.
Thanks again for sharing your comments/suggestions and I look forward to continuing our dialog. Best.
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Your site liked my comment so much it repeated it! I prefer genuine feedback.
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Thanks Mike I applaud your efforts and want to tell you that I so believe what you have said - and see daily how collaboration in systems not able to accommodate it, often means paying a cost personally. Guess one has to be willing to walk the talk. I collaborate Leadership courses I teach, facilitation I do, and have nearly completed a book with another person.
Luckily I have met some amazing leaders in this group who also see the value in collaborating, so I am very thankful for a MIX community. Even the finance systems are set to reward the one person show - but I think that too will change by the end of 2011.
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This is truly a valuable story. I believe it will help to lift the fog that envelops the word ‘Trust’ apart from defining the constructive power of Peer-Groups.
The read reminded me of the tale of the well-travelled braggart of ye old times who claimed to the simple village folk that he was an uncommon athlete and could easily leap hurdles in a hunt. He got the awe he wanted till one yokel piped up ‘then you can jump five feet in a trice”. The braggart had to answer yes. Next the simpleton, now not so simple, smiled and said “Jump, and show us”. That took care of the braggart.
The ‘Soul’ and the impact of its surfacing is definitely not bragging. Only the immature will deny its power but let any mature person don a black suit and a tie, sit behind a desk, and they will ask for evidence of the soul! As you have noted for the corporate context “We have a disbelief in the reality and power of the inner teacher” and “it is about honoring an invisible thing called the soul”. The invisible is risky in the corporate environment. Hence the 'circle of trust' as defined by you is very rarely possible inside the corporate.
I have written off the “Circle of Trust” inside the corporate with finality as if it is the gospel truth. It is not as highlighted by the work of Bill Nobles reported in the MIX. He has quoted cases to support his belief that Freedom inside the corporate leading to Trust as defined by you is possible. But I believe this is the exception created by extraordinary leaders and it is really too much to expect it to be a sustained rule: Rivalry, Self-interest and Power are too deeply entrenched in corporate affairs to be methodically or procedurally rooted out. The poor support of your Peer-Groups among corporates is a reflection of this unfortunate reality.
A different kind of trust is possible in the corporate environment. It is rational and devoid of emotion. It is driven by the need to get people on board for orchestrating action or the need to get the buy-in of superiors or the need to bring in expertise. In all of these situations trust implies a reliability of response. It may be an imperfect response in that it may contain elements of self-interest or be subject to the times or be subject to group dynamics. Senge has opined this is Feedback, follows patterns and is enough to surface the reality.
The problem then becomes ensuring systematic coordination in chaos to enable the apparently rational flow of Knowledge and possessing the maturity to go beyond the obvious.
Raj
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I certainly agree with you that the empiracal evidence supports what you say. Since we are telling stories, it reminds me of the story of the two shoe salesmen dispatched to a developing country - one e-mails back to HQ, "they don't wear shoes here, there's no market" and the other e-mails back, "they don't wear shoes here, there's a huge market".
You have so well articulated the "executive disease" which is prevelant in larger businesses/public corporations just by virtue of donning a suit/tie/desk. I am left pondering which e-mail we should collectively send back - "executive disease here, no market for peer group antedote" or "executive disease here, huge market for peer group antedote".
I hope its the latter and we can join in the management innovation to make it so, with peer groups being a contributory antedote (along with everything else we are exploring here at the MIX) to the unfortunate reality you highlight, helping the minority of extra-ordinary leaders become the majority. Thanks again so much. Best.
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Hello Mike. Your reply has helped me understand myself and Trust better. You may like to first check why the particular country people ignored shoes, i.e., it is possible your dedication to uniting the role and soul is blocking sight of the reality. The overlap between us is that we fight the same enemy: ignorance of ourselves and hence the reality. We differ in our understanding of the way forward. Scholtes (courtesy the Barrier 'http://www.managementexchange.com/barrier/need-progress-people-their-knowledge' by Nayantara) placed his finger on the reality when he observed:
- All of the empowered, motivated, teamed-up, self-directed, incentivized, accountable, re-engineered, and re-invented people you can muster cannot compensate for a dysfunctional system. When the system is functioning well, these other things are just foofaraw. When the system is not functioning well, these things are still only empty, meaningless twaddle.
The dysfunctional system of peer groups inside the corporate boundary is perhaps a produce of human nature just as wars are. Who does not wish peace but there have been wars, including civil wars, led by some extraordinary leaders. The 'executive disease' you have identified, the tendency of the corporate denizen to neglect or ignore the inner reality, is likely a produce of the very same nature. It, like war, has existed over ages despite the best efforts of man and woman and has caused debacles from Troy to Toyota. I suggest we focus on this human nature and seek to steer it from within, i.e., remove the root cause of the dysfunctionality, rather than marshal resources like a General and fight it.
It is possible you will claim you are appealing to a proven and established reality, and are definitely not engaging in a fight with human nature. I shall use the Sahara desert to illustrate my contention. The desert is the product of thousands of years of climate action. Would you see an email by a fertiliser salesman, describing the desert, as an opportunity for selling fertiliser? The scientific approach to greening has succeeded but only in patches where there is water and its supply is assured. Equating the 'executive disease' to nature like the climate action that created the Sahara, and the ‘Circle of Trust Peer-Groups’ to the fertiliser, I say the solution is not fostering leadership (fertiliser) but assured supply of energy of the right kind (water). It will emerge the reality (fertility) regardless of leadership, and success (greenery) will follow. Ergo, wisdom may lie in leaders taking advantage of the opportunity to create intelligent energy with IT rather than in painstakingly fostering leaders who may yet fail in nurturing the required energy. The fact is humanity has failed to organize for success though the secret was discerned by Sun Tzu at least 2500 years ago. Rohit in his hack ‘An intrinsic force for superior management’ has posted the following from Tao-Te-Ching dating to the same period:
'The secret waits for the insight
Of eyes unclouded by longing
Those that are bound by desire
See only the outward container'.
The corporate worker, like the distinguished diplomat who must lie, is bound by desire. I suggest once again that the real problem of modern management is creating robust and reliable means to coordinate and organize widespread decision makers for assuring free-flow of Knowledge in context regardless of chaos rather than fostering leaders. I reiterate this does not in any way diminish the importance or value of external Peer-Groups as explained by you. Indeed they are not, as you are fond of saying, EITHER/OR but AND to my proposal besides being truly an intelligent, very valuable and proven means to raise performance. They demonstrate the leveraging of a deep understanding of Trust as it applies to daily living. Why stretch this Trust to an environment that is trained to deny it and will act to snap it?
The Solution Presentation at https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AVka9xLnpQUNZGZ4cnF6cHpfNzU2Z2YyamRwZHM&hl=en&authkey=CJWu2r4H provides an overview of the fundamental problem of all Knowledge work and my breakthrough in harnessing IT to provide the inexhaustible supply of intelligent energy needed for driving the required free-flow of Knowledge in context across the distributed enterprise.
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Mike, I sense a reluctance to comment on the contours of the systemic solution you agree is required. I was beginning to enjoy agreeing/disagreeing with you. If your Barrier is any indication we have a lot of ground to cover. Now I am stumped. Best wishes, Raj.
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Thanks Mike. A disagreement would have provided me an opening. In absence of that I can carry on like Boyd’s 14 hour presentation and only sow confusion. Conceptually, my work joins elements that are abstract today to dynamically form a compound that delivers the punch. Mavericks in the establishment are seriously considering offering me a pilot to convince the harassed top and themselves that my work can drive the government to think constructively, apply its considerable Knowledge effectively and take concerted action on each event of consequence. I shall have to ask you to await further clarification till the beautiful day I transform a distributed administration here. It shall be done from within with the inexhaustible energy of technology driving cognitive dissonance across the enterprise and nurturing leaders to respond to the emerging reality. Till then what I write is abstract and baseless. The phantom of the MIX will vouchsafe that! Cheers.
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Mike Richardson's premise about the value of peer groups reminded me of Robert Putnam's
book, "Bowling Alone" that makes the observation that "social bonds are the most powerful predictors of life satisfaction".
Mike takes this basic into the executive suite and promotes the on-going cultivation of business peer groups.
These networks of professional peers are enhanced forms of Putnam's social capital that reap not only great life satisfaction but give practical assistance with business challenges. Further, professional peer groups offer objective input that can illuminated personal conundrums and these support groups make the loneliness at the top a little less lonely and isolated.
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Hi Mike,
I share with you the power of the peer group for creating value in new ways. Networked Intelligence renders conventional approaches to value creation insufficient or completely inappropriate. You proved that Collaboration, Openness and Sharing in peer groups is major driver of Business Value. The new information technologies like "Enterprise Social Networks" enables the agility of management processes to link strategy to operations faster and more efficient.
Thanks for your great story.
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