CEOWORLD magazine, the world's leading business publication, has announced the appointment of Leo Bottary to its External Advisory Board (EAB). Leo is the founder and managing partner of Peernovation, LLC and has served as a CEOWORLD magazine Opinion Columnist for the past three years, where he has contributed more than...

To be clear, I’m not referring to the military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution. Instead, I am writing about a company based in Barrie, Ontario, whose 2,300 employees work to enhance everyday living for people in 69 countries across the globe.    At the end...

2025 will be my fourth year of restarting a practice introduced by Chris Brogan over a decade ago. Brogan, Chief of Staff to the CEO of Appfire, began a practice in 2006 that I’ve always admired. It’s called My Three Words. Chris describes it this way: “The My Three Words idea is simple. Choose...

I delivered a three-hour workshop to a CEO Peer Advisory Group recently, where one of the members talked about the difficulty (putting it mildly) of having a civil conversation with someone who stands on the opposite side of one’s political views. He described how emotion instantly hijacks such an encounter....

One of my favorite things about speaking at a conference is that if you keep your eyes and ears open, you will likely get more value than you give. As hard as I may try, I can only do so much in an hour versus the many hours I spend...

Several years ago, I spoke to a CEO Forum in Minnesota, where we discussed the value of asking clarifying questions so that group members could better understand a challenge or opportunity that a CEO presented to his/her fellow members. I asked them how good they were at doing so. Their...

It surprises me that more organizations don’t have peer groups working alongside teams. Teams, by design, live to create a shared work product or achieve a collaborative goal. On the other hand, peer groups exist to develop the individual employees. If you want stronger players who collaborate more effectively, you...

I speak to CEO forums, key executive peer groups, and organizational teams across the globe to help them maximize the value of their group experience and lead high-performing, happier teams. The most rewarding part of my work is knowing that for the audience members, no matter how many leaders are...

Two years ago, I wrote a CEOWORLD Magazine article titled A Metaphor for Healthy Growth, featuring what I called The Peernovation Tree. As I wrote in the piece, “I love the metaphor because trees are not only alive; they give us life.” They contribute much more than the shade delivered...

CEO Forums create a safe space for organizational leaders to be open and vulnerable with one another about their business and their lives. Rather than showcase their highlight reel (as everyone does on social media), they choose to be real – to talk about their struggles and aspirations, where confidentiality...

Several years ago, I delivered a self-assessment workshop to a CEO peer group in the Midwest, a program that I have since delivered hundreds of times, yet on this day, something extraordinary happened. For context, the workshop is designed for the CEO members and group leader to build an action...

Recently, I was a guest on the podcast In Sync with Linda Martin. During our conversation, which won’t be available for several more weeks, Linda asked me about the number of leaders who still operate from a position of "What have you done for me lately?" We discussed it from...

During my work with CEO Forums, visibility has found its way to the forefront of many recent conversations about how group members can maximize the value of their experience together. When I ask the CEOs to talk about how they want to benefit from the group over the next 12...

A great deal of emphasis is placed on training Peer Advisory Group Chairs and Forum Leaders – as it should be. These amazing individuals bear a tremendous responsibility as coaches and confidants to CEOs and their key executives worldwide. They work to make their groups “greater than the sum of...

All too often, people think of groups as a “lesser than” form of a team. Someone will comment, “They’re just a group; they don’t work together as a team!” The reality is that groups and teams exist for very different reasons. A Group convenes to help its members achieve their...