Best CEO Forum Companion Hack? Visibility.

Last week, in my CEOWORLD Magazine piece, The Best CEO Forum Hack? Preparation., I shared that most CEOs participating in forums or peer advisory groups admit to being woefully unprepared for their forum meetings. I stated that preparation is the number 1 hack because it not only helps CEOs bring their best selves to the meeting but also has a ripple effect that reaps countless additional benefits.

If I had to name a companion hack, it would be visibility. I define visibility in this context as having a clear understanding of the aspirations and goals of the other members. The greater our understanding of how we can be helpful, the more helpful we can be. This understanding, this visibility, is not just about helping others; it’s about personal growth and learning. It’s about being inspired by the aspirations and goals of your peers and using that inspiration to drive your success.

Forums 

While this concept of visibility may seem rather basic, the need for a greater understanding of one another in CEO forums and company teams is more common than you might think. For example, when I work with these groups to help them maximize the value of their experience, I begin the session by asking the CEO forum members to share what they hope to receive from their fellow members and group leaders over the following year. Here’s how they respond:

“I appreciate the opportunity to work on my business rather than in my business.”
“I want to learn practices and strategies from industry sectors other than mine.”
“I want to be around people who can show me my blind spots.”
“I want to work with other CEOs to help me pressure test my decisions.”
“I want to learn from the experiences of others.”

The responses are valid, yet they don’t tell us what we need to know. At the end of my program, I challenge the CEOs with a homework assignment designed to be submitted to the forum leader and all the other members. It involves answering four questions, and I ask the CEOs to be as thoughtful and detailed as possible:

1. How do I want to be a better leader?
2. What are my goals and aspirations for my organization?
3. What help do I expect from my forum leader to help me achieve both?
4. What help do I expect from my fellow members?

In most CEO groups, the members barely know the answers to these questions for themselves, let alone understand how their fellow members might respond. The situation puts the members in a position where they want to help each other but need more visibility to do so to their fullest potential. This visibility exercise gives members clarity about the help they need and what help others need.  If I know that one of my members wants to drive sales, improve company culture, or expand a business internationally, I will readily share resources specific to that member’s needs. What’s more, it helps each member better understand what forum membership success looks like.

Teams    

This concept of visibility applies to teams as well. A cross-functional team, expected to work together, is often called dysfunctional because it needs more visibility and a greater understanding of what the other team members do. I have brought cross-functional teams together and asked the marketing director what he thinks the finance director does all day. The typical answer is, “I have no idea.” Or, my favorite response was, “He says no to me all the time.” After enough “no” responses and without understanding the finance director’s job and constraints, the marketing director forms opinions that are not exactly positive, often leading to unnecessary conflict and poor working relationships. We expect people to work together when they need more understanding of how they can help each other. Imagine if we just asked. Imagine what that would look like if we chose to be curious.

What Anyone Can Do   

What Anyone Can Do is the title of my second book, taken from a line written by former Runner’s World editor Joe Henderson found in one of his 30 books, titled The Long Run Solution (1976). In describing successful runners and successful people in general, he noted that most people are incapable of superhuman feats. They can’t leap tall buildings in a single bound. They simply do the things that anyone can do that most of us don’t.

Whether you are part of a forum, team, or both, if you enlist and engage the support of the people around you and ask for their help with whatever aspiration or goal you may have, they will help you do the things that anyone can do far more often. And you can help them as well. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness; it’s an act of resourcefulness. Exchange the gift of visibility with others about what you do and what you want, and enjoy the results!

Written by Leo Bottary.

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