What do you think a CEO should either ask or evaluate when they are looking for facilitators, coaches, a mentor, a Vistage Chair?
This is going to be probably more my bias, but I would prefer somebody who would be quite direct. We are trained to ask questions – difficult questions – particularly during our one-to-ones where nobody else is asking these kinds of questions – deep questions really about family, about kids, about the strength of management teams.
I don’t know how many strategic planning sessions I’ve attended, but most of them are going to have a SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. And one of strengths that everybody talks about in SWOT analysis is the strength of their management team. Well, what if the management team isn’t so good? I’m going to want some somebody who’s helping me by asking very difficult questions, maybe questions that I don’t have the answers to or maybe questions I don’t even want to talk about.
Finally, when we’re evaluating and selecting new members we ask: Are they open to feedback? Are they open to coaching? It is pretty simply…if you know all the answers, you don’t need to be in Vistage. It certainly isn’t for everybody. There’s a lot of vulnerability that’s involved, admitting you may not have all the answers. There’s a lot of soul-searching. But CEOs have a tendency to hear all the nice stuff. I’m going to want to find somebody who can help me get in touch with reality.
As one of my colleagues likes to say: Reality always wins.
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To find out more information about Dennis J. Ellmaurer, Chair Emeritus at Vistage Worldwide, Inc.
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LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/dennisellmaurer
Email: dennis.ellmaurer@vistagechair.com
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