Meet Dan Rootenberg
Employees: 100-499
Region: New York
Industry: Healthcare
Success with Vistage
- Tripled the size of business
- Dan and his executive group have become better at delegating tasks
- Developed a more sophisticated marketing strategy
“I think of Vistage, my advisory board and my Chair, as a partnership. I see Vistage as an extension of my business, while at the same time, I feel that I am an extension of theirs. We really help each other navigate the difficult waters of owning a business.”
– Dan Rootenberg, President, SPEAR Physical Therapy
Before Vistage
Dan Rootenberg and grad school classmate David Endres founded SPEAR Physical Therapy in 1999 on the principle of delivering a unique client experience. The company’s values of demonstrating passion, empathy and respect fueled its growth from a “mom and pop shop” to a well-developed organization with an executive leadership group and multiple clinics.
Dan, always striving to learn more and expose himself to new ideas, recognized that he wanted to bring best practices from other business fields to SPEAR.
With Vistage
Dan’s fellow Vistage members helped process difficult decisions and challenges. This support allowed him to better understand what made SPEAR unique, and to better understand his strengths — and blind spots — as a leader.
Their insights guided him toward a clear path for growth. Seeing the potential in himself and the business pushed him to position the company for success.
Result
Dan leveraged a more sophisticated marketing strategy and has further developed the soft skills.
In particular, he gained the management knowledge to fully invest himself in his employees. HIs close relationship with his employees has given SPEAR an advantage over the competition. His workforce, particularly the executive group, is more equipped to engage in difficult conversations and execute strategies, which has proved vital in their continued expansion.
Dan learned how to ask better questions, delegate tasks and set expectations. He also became a more daring and effective leader as a result of the principles honed in his monthly Vistage meetings.
These skills, coupled with support from other Vistage members, gave Dan the necessary strategies, techniques and confidence to not just handle expansion, but to accelerate it. His company grew threefold over the past four years.