The Sterling Executive Group is Driving Impactful Leadership

Today things are moving more quickly in the business world than ever before and becoming increasingly more complex.?At some point in a leader’s career – usually when the journey gets difficult – they will ask themselves, “Why do I need to do this alone?”

Even well-seasoned CEOs want to know how to be a good leader when the playing field keeps changing, and they realize that working harder in the business is not the solution.?One reassuring constant they rely on is the wisdom they learn other leaders with shared challenges and learned experiences.?No one wants to make this journey alone.?

This explains why tens of thousands of leaders around the world have turned to professional peer groups to help them define what being a good CEO looks like, how to navigate challenges, and to benefit from the experiential learning available from a trusted group of diverse peers. After all, taking charge of your own learning is a part of taking charge of your life.?

For serious peer groups, the fundamental membership goal is to deepen their leadership capabilities, enhance their life balance, improve business performance, and build powerful personal networks.?A high performing group helps members become better learners, identify practical solutions from the diverse dialogue, solve problems, reduce stress, and find the courage to grow.?Since it is a safe environment for full disclosure, the intellectual diversity and shared experiences offered have immeasurable value.?

Being a member of a high performing peer group is not a spectator sport, and the depth of engagement is what drives value for all members.?During the authentic discussions members gain both intentional and collateral learning.?But sharing involves courage and generosity.?That means you need to be present, ask good questions, suspend judgement, exercise genuine generosity in your contributions, and share in confidence.?In this setting members learn better together.?They build the courage to share and establish a sense of direction for future learning and enquiry.

A well-structured group needs to be facilitated with open interaction by a professional Chair who is informed by seasoned experience.?A Chair needs to develop an authentic connection with each member, stay current with the issues and opportunities each are facing, and understand where members are in the cycle of business and organizational development.?This deep member knowledge creates the roadmap for selecting speaker workshops, and guiding executive discussions.?

While the role of a Chair does not necessitate having the answers, it is to understand that leaders need to have someone in their lives who will unfailingly and fearlessly tell them the truth.??The personal relationship that develops between a Chair and a member is the epitome of the trusted advisor with whom discussions are direct, genuine, and caring.

Could You be Too Busy to Succeed??

It is quite common for a leader to become engaged in the operations of the business and to focus on using their years of management experience to advance the success of the enterprise.?For many CEOs this can become a serious problem when this operational focus crowds out their primary role of translating vision into reality.?Many CEOs find it difficult to make the transition from working IN the business to working ON the business.?This explains why Warren Bennis wrote that failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led.????

As an organization grows, if the top priority of the CEO is not about translating vision into reality, the risk of business stagnation or failure steadily increases.?Sustainable growth reflects sustainable leadership.?

Unfortunately, at the Sterling Executive Group it is not uncommon to hear a prospective CEO member say, “I just don’t have the time to participate in a peer group.”?In many cases this is a symptom of a leader who is struggling to make the transition from being a great manager to being an even better leader.?They are simply too busy working IN the business.?In a serious-minded peer group this leadership challenge will be identified quickly and confronted in a direct, push-without-shoving manner.??

Operational management refers to day-to-day execution.?It involves concentrating resources, keeping people focused on tasks and workflows, and using process discipline.?Strategic leadership is a management style that seeks to position the organization for long-term success. ?It is characterized by course-setting, growing the organization, and encouraging innovative thinking.?

This is the role that no CEO should be too busy to embrace.

Making Time for Strategic Leadership

By taking your seat at the peer group table, you are making it possible to pull yourself out of the day-to-day management of the business and start the process of building a capable executive team comprised of leaders and managers that can keep the ship steady and on course.?

Since you will also be giving yourself dedicated time to think strategically as you galvanize your purpose and vision, you will be able to bring clarity to the culture, align your team toward shared goals, and lead the organization with clarity.

The operating model used by the Sterling Executive Group is designed to accommodate both CEOs and the future leaders that report to them.?We recognize that as a business grows the issues and opportunities evolve and the leadership needs change.?In recognition of this, we have established three distinct virtual group formats; emerging groups ($3 to $10 million in annual revenues), core groups ($10 to $50 million in annual revenues), and enterprise groups (over $50 million in annual revenues) that will appeal to both CEOs and top executives.

The make up of groups is based on avoiding competitive conflict, optimizing intellectual and cognitive diversity, and giving all members a balanced opportunity to share and contribute.?We select speaker workshops for each group type that focus on practical applications and learning engagement.?Our goal is to achieve the type of impactful leadership development best described in the advice given by Warren Buffet, as follows:

Surround yourself with people that push you to do and be better.?No drama or negativity.?Just higher goals and higher motivation.?Good times and positive energy.?No jealousy or hate.?Simply bringing out the absolute best in each other. ?Warren Buffet, 2018