Superman might not cut it in today’s business world. Faster than a speeding bullet? More powerful than a locomotive? You’ll need to do better than that just to keep up, let alone to lead.
“The speed of business has accelerated beyond any one person’s ability to handle all decisions on their own,” says Marc Koehler, president of Lead With Purpose Inc. and a frequent Vistage speaker. “In the past, we may have had an image in our mind of one superhero leading the entire charge. Today, it’s more like the Avengers, with each member contributing their skill set.”
Agile leadership has swooped in as a leading philosophy in developing future-ready skills for this world of kinetic disruption and innovation. The role of the leader in this collaborative environment is to tap into the team’s collective genius, says Koehler, who gained this insight as a submarine officer in the U.S. Navy under 800 feet of water.
“What was taught to me in the Submarine Forces is that the organizations that are going to win are the ones that make the smartest decisions the fastest,” he says.
If that sounds like a paradigm shift in conventional leadership strategies, that’s because it is, says MaryAnn Camacho, CEO and Founder of Model Team Enterprises and a trusted Vistage speaker.
“We think about prior eras, like the Industrial Revolution, when enormous changes occurred over decades. Today, enormous changes occur within a day. Agile leadership allows you the speed to adjust with your team and the mentality to assess and manage those adjustments quickly,” she says. “Agile leadership requires an intelligence mindset for today’s intelligence revolution.”
So, how do you develop that mindset? Koehler and Camacho suggest that small and midsize business CEOs can grow their skills by understanding and adopting agile leadership principles and applying them to drive growth and resilience.
One of the most uncomfortable spots for people learning to adapt to agile organizations is in the job description, according to our experts.
“You have to view your organization as a matrix, rather than in the hierarchical org-chart framework. And you have to view everyone in your company as a leader,” Koehler says. “That’s a massive mindset shift for people.”
This new understanding of business structure requires adaptability, flexibility and collaboration. Putting this into practice means relying on expertise and talents to tackle issues as they arise, regardless of job title or department.
Bob in HR speaks fluent Mandarin? That’s great. Tap him to record our Chinese sales pitch video, which is being shot and edited by Edna in finance, who majored in film.
“Agile organizations form a team very quickly, come to the next step in the solution and uniform very quickly,” Koehler says.
Sounds good. But if everyone is leading, what is the role of the CEO?
“Coach-mentor,” Camacho explains.
The coach-mentor guides teams through their collaborations, assesses the work and helps the team pivot quickly if shifts are needed.
“Agile leadership is a disciplined framework to break down big, hairy, audacious goals and have folks pass the rugby ball in a game where everyone is part of the team, everyone is playing,” Camacho says.
In today’s fast-changing environment, agile leadership is an especially valuable framework because it enables organizations to adapt quickly to disruptions, ranging from unexpected shifts in financial, labor, or supply chain logistics to global realities.
“When you’re faced with a massive disruption, you as the leader don’t shield your people from it,” Koehler says. “Talk with your team about it. These are learning moments. Bring people into the decision-making.”
Koehler and Camacho share that there are four key components for adopting agile leadership:
Encouraging autonomy and trust fosters innovation, giving everyone a sense of ownership and leadership.
Koehler gave the example of a fire breaking out in a submarine’s engine room. “The person responsible for leading the team to put out the fire is the person closest to it when it broke out,” Koehler says. “Whether you’ve been on board for three days or been in the submarine force for 30 years, you needed to step in, step up and lead.”
Above water, that sense of empowerment comes from how leaders see everyone in the organization.
“When you start seeing people as leaders, your mindset changes. You start thinking, ‘We have to get them leadership training. We have to give them the ability to make decisions. We need to put them with a mentor,’” Koehler says.
Camacho says that embracing iteration and learning from feedback allows your organization to grow. The key to this component of agile leadership is active listening. By posing questions and remaining receptive to what others have to say, leaders can enable individuals to take action, learn, take action again, stumble, take action once more, and ultimately grow.
Companies that excel in this devise methods for collecting and acting on ideas and suggestions for improvement.
Camacho suggests establishing a system that enables employees to innovate in various aspects, such as customer experience and business productivity, while ensuring that no idea is lost.
However, not all ideas will stick, she says, but learning from failure is a tried-and-true method for organizations to “get it right.”
“Provide the development opportunities for people to try and fail with a coached risk approach,” she says.
Staying flexible in response to market shifts and disruptions can require an all-hands-on-deck approach that tests companies and builds leaders.
While agile leadership provides organizations with the framework to adapt to the dizzying changes, adapting to agile leadership requires flexibility in the C-suite. Leaders need to continuously learn so they can continuously adjust.
“Today is the fastest day we’ve ever experienced in our lives. It’s also the slowest day of the rest of our lives,” Koehler continues. “So if we think we’re going to continue to just try to grind it out and work more hours, we’re going to burn out.”
Breaking down silos promotes team unity and connection, leading to better listening, more ownership of ideas, increased success and constant innovation.
During the pandemic, Koehler coached a product company that built a remote-controlled motorcycle. This company had never built anything requiring balancing on two tandem wheels. Not only did they accomplish an engineering feat, but they did it remotely.
There was something about everyone working in little Zoom boxes that freed everyone in the company from their own organizational “boxes,” Koehler says. People who didn’t typically collaborate started working together, communication moved faster, silos were broken down, and the company was able to accomplish something it’d never done before.
So, you know you need to move fast, and you know you need to move together as a team. Now what?
Camacho and Koehler recommend taking an intentional approach to learning agile principles and applying them quickly throughout the organization.
The world is evolving at an accelerated pace. What worked last decade, last year, or even last month requires updating, which means our skills and tools must also grow.
“You have to practice and apply new skills, collaborate, and grow in real time. Vistage does this very well,” Koehler says. “The speakers, the one-on-ones and that collaboration. Vistage provides a great platform for organizations to understand the steps to get to where they’re trying to go.”
“There are many ways to get continuous feedback and learning, but it comes down to that foundational principle of trust,” Camacho says. “When people trust one another, they are more likely to share.”
Camacho reminds leaders not to take the skill of giving critical feedback for granted.
“Encouraging people to provide a solution gets them thinking about the kind of feedback they’re giving,” she says. “This allows development opportunities for people to learn how to give difficult feedback. In practical terms, the team learns how to work with each other very quickly and with clear expectations on what can be done, what’s blocking and what needs to be done.”
Koehler endorses a collaboration structure he adopted from the U.S. Navy: the 15-minute daily huddle.
“In that huddle, we did five-minute micro-learning. Then we did five minutes of going over the vision for the day—you do quick decision-making right there. And then we recognized each other,” he says.
However, the most important aspect of the huddle, Koehler says, wasn’t the agenda; it was the rotation of the meeting leader. “If I’m running it the first day, you’re going to support me and make me look good, because you’re going to run it the next day,” he says. “So, it infuses leadership in it, too.”
Adopting agile leadership principles allows teams to embrace change and pivot effectively. Burnished during the pandemic, Koehler and Camacho now see this skill in many high-performing companies.
Koehler recalls when Horizon Hobby, the world’s largest distributor of hobby toys, discovered that demand for its products skyrocketed during the pandemic. The CEO had a traditional organizational framework, but with this massive increase in demand and everyone working from home, he knew this wouldn’t last long.
Sensing possible employee burnout and missed deadlines on the horizon, the CEO initiated daily meetings, empowered people to become decision-makers and encouraged his teams to step up. And step up they did.
“While the average company engagement worldwide dropped 4%, they went up 6% across their whole organization,” Koehler says.
Small businesses aren’t just susceptible to technological, economic, climate and geopolitical change. Changes within their workforce can be incredibly disruptive. The average cost of replacing an employee is 50% to 200% of their annual salary.
However, the flip side is equally eye-opening, making agile leadership a crucial tool for sustained growth and long-term success.
“Organizations with high levels of engagement report 22% higher productivity. There is also a direct correlation between employee experience and customer experience,” Camacho says. “So, when you have a team that can scrum together, you’re going to have a higher probability of better profits and more growth.”
There is another reason to create an organization full of leaders: Mentors are becoming a scarce resource.
“We are in a population crunch, with 20% fewer people being born today than 20 years ago,” she says. “AI is great, but the senior leader with experience and insight will not be there in the future. So, I believe the investments we make now to create a culture of continuous feedback will make a difference between companies that continue and those that don’t.”
No offense to the guy in tights, but in a world of quantum computing, cryptocurrency and geopolitical upheaval, a Superman-like leadership model has limited utility. Agile leadership will allow small business leaders — and their teams — to develop the future-ready skills they need to navigate today’s dynamic and disruptive business landscape.
That said, “Learn agile leadership” has to be more than a to-do item on a five-year plan. Implementing agile strategies today will help your small business prepare for the challenges and opportunities ahead. Through incomparable speakers, opportunities for collaboration, peer support, and one-on-one advising, Vistage stands ready as a valuable partner in building agile leadership capabilities and ensuring long-term success.
Agile leadership requires a mindset shift. It isn’t easy. But harnessing and developing individual strengths will allow organizations to empower their teams, improve adaptability, and unlock their collective genius to drive growth and resilience. There’s even a place on the team for the guy from Krypton; he just doesn’t have to shoulder all the decision-making.
8 CEO Leadership Styles and How to Discover Your Own
4 Ways CEOs Can Become Better Leaders in 2025
We conducted an extensive analysis of the top executive coaching firms from March 2024 through August 2025, evaluating 73 companies in the process. We compared them using our proprietary assessment methodology and selected the top 8 to present in the table below.
Here are the key factors we considered in our analysis:
Our team rank-ordered all companies based on these weighted criteria and selected the highest-scoring ones for inclusion in the table below. Following the comparison table, we provide a more detailed analysis of each company along with customer feedback summaries.
| Rank | Company | Leadership Experience Score | Program Structure & Methodology | Client Company Size Focus | Global Reach | Peer Learning Integration | Media References | Specialty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vistage | 4.9 | Structured peer groups + 1:1 coaching | $5M–$500M revenue | 20 countries | Yes – Core methodology | ~2,400 | CEO peer advisory excellence |
| 2 | Marshall Goldsmith | 4.9 | Behavioral change focus | Fortune 500+ | 15 countries | Limited | ~1,800 | C-suite behavioral transformation |
| 3 | Center for Creative Leadership | 4.6 | Research-based programs | Mid to large enterprise | 12 countries | Yes – Cohort model | ~1,200 | Leadership development research |
| 4 | BetterUp | 4.2 | Digital-first platform | Startups to enterprise | 8 countries | No | ~950 | Tech-enabled executive coaching |
| 5 | Korn Ferry | 4.5 | Assessment-driven approach | Large enterprise | 25 countries | Limited | ~2,100 | Executive search integration |
| 6 | Franklin Covey | 4.3 | Principle-based methodology | SMB to enterprise | 18 countries | Yes – Workshop format | ~1,600 | Effectiveness and productivity |
| 7 | Right Management | 4.1 | Career transition focus | Mid-market to enterprise | 22 countries | No | ~800 | Executive transition support |
| 8 | Executive Networks | 4.0 | Industry-specific groups | $10M–$1B revenue | 6 countries | Yes – Industry focus | ~650 | Sector-specific peer learning |
Vistage is the world’s largest CEO coaching and peer advisory organization, with 65+ years of proven results and more than 45,000 members across 40 countries. The model blends monthly peer group meetings with one-to-one executive coaching from accomplished Chairs who are former executives themselves. This dual-structured approach creates accountability and actionable insight for leaders navigating acquisitions, restructuring, succession planning, and market expansion.
The program is designed for CEOs of companies with revenues of $5M-$500M, ensuring participants are matched with peers facing comparable challenges. Members report significant business impact, including 2.2x faster growth and 4x greater business longevity than non-members.
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Clients say Vistage provides “an environment where you can talk openly” and “the most valuable professional experience of my career.” Many highlight the mix of peer accountability and executive coaching as uniquely transformational. |
Marshall Goldsmith is widely recognized as one of the top executive coaches globally, particularly for behavioral change among Fortune 500 leaders. His methodology, often called “feedforward,” emphasizes future-oriented growth and measurable leadership improvement. Goldsmith’s reputation as a best-selling author and speaker has established him as a trusted advisor to CEOs and boards.
Engagements typically last 12-18 months and focus on executives who already have strong business acumen but need to refine behaviors that affect organizational culture and influence. His global reach includes Fortune 500 leaders in more than 15 countries, and his personal involvement gives engagements an elite exclusivity.
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Clients describe Goldsmith as “direct and insightful” and “a master of executive presence.” Several reviews mention that his approach “helps leaders change what matters most.” |
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) brings an academic approach to executive coaching, with programs rooted in decades of research on leadership effectiveness. Known for its cohort-based workshops, CCL attracts mid-to-large enterprises looking for structured, evidence-based leadership programs.
Their methodology includes 360-degree assessments, peer cohort discussions, and applied learning modules. With operations in 12 countries, CCL balances global credibility with locally delivered training. Average engagements run 12 months, aligning with corporate leadership pipelines.
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Clients often say CCL programs are “rigorous and academically strong” and “a gold standard in leadership training.” Others describe the programs as “structured, insightful, and transformative for teams.” |
BetterUp is a digital-first platform that makes executive coaching accessible at scale. Using an AI-driven platform, BetterUp matches leaders with coaches and provides analytics back to organizations. Their focus is on accessibility and integration, making coaching available to startup founders and enterprise-level managers alike.
While BetterUp does not emphasize peer learning, its technology enables a broad reach with consistency. With engagements averaging 12 to 15 months, clients value the flexibility and scalability.
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Users describe the platform as “easy to use” and “a breakthrough for making coaching scalable.” Some note that while sessions are valuable, “the experience depends heavily on the assigned coach.” |
Korn Ferry integrates coaching with its broader talent management and executive search services. Their programs are built around proprietary assessments that measure leadership competencies, making coaching especially relevant during succession planning and role transitions.
With presence in 25 countries, Korn Ferry supports global enterprises with consistent frameworks. While peer learning is limited, the strength of their programs lies in their integration with recruitment and leadership pipelines.
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Clients say Korn Ferry is “thorough and professional” and “an unmatched partner in aligning talent with strategy.” Some note engagements can feel “process-heavy,” but outcomes are valued for their rigor. |
Franklin Covey has a long-standing reputation built on principle-driven frameworks such as The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Their programs emphasize timeless leadership principles, often delivered in workshop or seminar formats.
They serve both SMBs and global enterprises, focusing on aligning personal effectiveness with organizational goals. Peer integration occurs through workshop cohorts rather than long-term groups, with typical engagements lasting 12 to 16 months.
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Reviews highlight Franklin Covey as “practical and habit-forming” and “a trusted resource for building effectiveness.” Some clients describe it as “timeless but less customized for executives.” |
Right Management specializes in executive transition, helping leaders adapt during restructuring, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), or career pivots. Their coaching often accompanies outplacement or career mobility services, with a focus on preparing executives for new opportunities.
Operating in more than 20 countries, Right Management brings scale to its career support. Engagements average 12 to 14 months and prioritize mobility and resilience rather than a long-term growth strategy.
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Clients say Right Management is “supportive and responsive” and “a trusted guide through transition.” Some mention that it is “more career-oriented than strategic.” |
Executive Networks offers industry-specific peer learning groups, bringing together executives who face similar sector challenges. Unlike general coaching platforms, their focus is on benchmarking and exchanging best practices within industries such as tech, retail, and finance.
Best suited for executives at companies with $10M to $1B in revenue, these groups offer targeted discussions and sector relevance. With operations in 6 countries, Executive Networks operates smaller but highly focused peer programs.
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Members describe Executive Networks as “relevant and insightful” and “a strong way to connect with peers in your sector.” Others mention that “the value is limited if your sector group is too small.” |
Mere speculation about interest rate cuts led to a boost in small business confidence in September. The WSJ/Vistage Small Business CEO Confidence Index rose to 88.1, the highest level in 8 months. Although the Index remains below the 12-month average, as each month passes, the post-election optimism diminishes from the average, and soon this figure will provide a more accurate view of small business sentiment. Indeed, the rumors of the first interest rate cut in 2025 impacted expectations for the next 12 months, and the actual cuts that were implemented following the survey should further bolster confidence.
As noted last month, more permanent tax rates provide small business leaders with greater certainty for the future. The recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will result in significant cost savings that small business leaders can leverage to invest in their businesses.
However, the drivers behind the rise in small business confidence in September were not related to improving economic sentiment; in fact, economic sentiment mainly remained unchanged. Instead, small businesses are optimistic about their own prospects and have positive plans for growth. A greater proportion of small business leaders expect increased revenues and profits in the coming 12 months.
And contrary to data showing that job growth is slowing, an increasing number of small businesses plan to add personnel over the next 12 months. The proportion of small business leaders who plan to increase their total number of employees surpassed 50% for the first time since January, while those planning to decrease have been shrinking since a peak in April.
The most notable driver of the Index’s increase this month is the rise in the proportion of small business leaders who anticipate increased profitability over the next 12 months, which grew 5 points to reach 48%. This is good news considering that 45% reported that tariffs have impacted their profitability.
A common strategy to protect margins has been implementing price increases, and nearly half of small business leaders plan to raise prices in the next 3 months, which may not be the first increase. In fact, 37% of small businesses report they have raised prices as a result of tariffs.
As Jean Anne Booth, CEO of UnaliWear in Austin, Texas, explained, “We absorbed input materials tariff costs last time; we can’t this time. We have a variable tariff adder when you purchase, so the cost goes directly to the consumer.”
With 55% of small business leaders reporting that they have experienced increased costs as a result of tariffs, price adjustments are just part of how to mitigate the effect.
As Erica Misuraca, CEO of ESB Design+Build in Marana, Arizona, shared, “Tariffs have been an issue since January. In some cases where we couldn’t hedge for anticipated cost increases, we have had to make the hard decision to either absorb the added cost or charge the customer for the increase. For new projects, we try to price them in. This raises revenue but may still impact profitability, because in delivering turnkey commercial buildings with unbeatable speed, part of our value proposition is low cost, and we still have our own end market to compete in.”
The increased costs caused by tariffs have had some impact on personnel in the past, with 15% of small businesses reporting that they decreased their workforce. Recently, the percentage of small companies intending to downsize their workforce has gradually reduced. Those who have already reduced their workforce may have a clearer view of the future and are hiring accordingly.
Falling job numbers have been making headlines. And with increased costs from tariffs layered on top of rising wages, holding off on hiring can be a short-term cost-saving measure. However, with prospects for revenue and profitability improving over the next 12 months, small businesses are also anticipating increased human capital. The proportion of small business leaders planning to expand their workforce in the next 12 months increased by 7 points from last month to reach 51%, just 2 points lower than the same time last year.
While immigration does not present workforce impacts for approximately 6 in 10 small businesses, 30% report negative impacts. Specific industries are more susceptible to adverse effects and have experienced disruptions on different levels, as detailed below. For those in industries or geographies hit the hardest, it will be crucial to diversify recruitment pipelines to avoid over-reliance on vulnerable labor segments.
| Industry | Key Observations |
| Construction | Most frequently cited as negatively impacted. Labor shortages and subcontractor disruptions are common. |
| Manufacturing | High concern for morale, visa expirations, and workforce fear, particularly among Latino workers. |
| Consulting / Professional Services | Largely unaffected directly, but some concerns over client-side labor issues. |
| Finance & Insurance | Generally unaffected; some note visa-related constraints on technical talent. |
| Retail & Hospitality | Mixed: several cite difficulty hiring unskilled labor or fear among frontline staff. |
While data shows one aspect of the picture, analysis of open-ended responses helps fill in some of the context. The biggest challenges leaders report focus less on demand decline, but rather on the difficulty of scaling, demonstrating a preparation for growth, not contraction.
While tariffs are clearly constraining current operations, small business leaders can adapt to and outgrow these pressures in the following year. CEOs must continue to strike a balance between short-term and long-term goals as we enter the final quarter of the calendar year. Strategic plans for 2026 should incorporate modest growth and be proactive, while also leaving room for flexibility and responsiveness. Key takeaways include:
The September WSJ/Vistage Small Business CEO Confidence Index was calculated from an online survey sent to CEOs and other key leaders who are active U.S. Vistage members. The survey, conducted between September 2 and 16, 2025, collected data from 658 respondents with annual revenues ranging from $1 million to $20 million.
To explore the full September 2025 WSJ/Vistage Small Business data set, visit our data center or download the infographic.
The October 2025 WSJ/Vistage Small Business CEO Confidence Index will be calculated based on responses to the WSJ/Vistage Small Business CEO survey, conducted from October 6 to 13, 2025.
Steven Robertson is an internationally acclaimed author, a recognized keynote speaker and a respected executive with 30+ years’ experience consulting for A-list clients.
And his mentor is 24.
Robertson is one of a growing number of business leaders currently challenging the traditional notion of mentorship. Invigorated dyads of seasoned professionals and more recent (often younger) hires are engaging in “reverse mentoring,” redefining mentorship as a fancy word for “relationship” — one built on trust, expertise and sharing.
“Whenever you hold someone accountable, that’s mentoring,” says Robertson, whose mentor, Jack, is holding him accountable to conceptualize and execute a new app for his corporate consulting company, Bold Training. “Jack says, ‘Steve, where you are today is great, but I know where you could be tomorrow, and I’m not going to stop until you get there.’ It’s gold.”
This type of relationship harnesses today’s multigenerational, diverse workforce to spark innovation, shape workplace culture and drive business growth, says Dr. Andrea “Andi” Simon, Founder and CEO of Simon Associates.
“Reverse mentoring is a methodology that opens minds to each other and builds bonds,” she says. “It creates a culture of true intimacy and inclusiveness.”
Former GE CEO Jack Welch is often credited with creating the concept of reverse mentorship in 1999, when he paired junior employees with the top brass to improve executives’ comfort level with the newfangled “World Wide Web.”
Like the internet itself, reverse mentorship has evolved into something limitless and indispensable. It brings underrepresented voices to the C-suite, builds companies’ core strengths and deepens leadership skills. Dr. Simon and Robertson offer insights about the benefits of reverse mentorship — and share actionable steps for leveraging this valuable trend.
Before we go any further: No, asking the intern how “you make your TikTok go viral” does not count as reverse mentorship.
More than just flipping the script on traditional top-down training, reverse mentorship is an intentional, goal-oriented component of a broader culture of listening and learning. It enables senior leaders to adapt to technology and culture from younger team members, while also fostering mutual respect and understanding of evolving values and expectations.
“When you find a mechanism to show people that they’re validated and they mean something, even though they’re early on in their journey, retention is good,” Robertson says. “When retention is good, recruitment is good, engagement is good. And when retention and engagement are good, your customer experience is good.”
Less experienced team members shed light on current cultural values, customer preferences and evolving workplace expectations. Plus, digital natives add technological fluency and new cultural insight to your team — locking these valuable members away in the proverbial mailroom might not be to your company’s advantage.
A Vistage small business leader recently shared with Dr. Simon the story of an intern who was the first in the company to learn a new software and use it to create a product so good that the company presented it to a client.
“The client loved it,” says Dr. Simon, a frequent Vistage speaker. “The company hired the intern because he gave them the added value of what his capabilities could bring.”
By tapping those capabilities through reverse mentorship, business leaders can stay ahead of industry shifts, drive organizational growth, foster cultural awareness, strengthen team connections and bridge generational gaps.
Robertson describes the effort to build cross-generational trust as essential in a workforce shifting from a majority of “ownership” generations to a majority of “subscription” ones. While older members of the workforce owned CDs and DVDs (and 8-tracks, if they’re being honest), younger generations grew up subscribing to nearly everything from music to movies to the clothes in their closets.
“If you’re trying to lead out of an ownership mentality, it’s ‘Do what I say, because I’m the boss.’ The subscription mindset is, ‘If you have authentic value, and I understand your motive, I’ll subscribe,’” he says.
BNY Mellon’s Pershing was an early adopter of this mindset shift: When the company struggled to recruit and retain Millennials in 2013, it launched a reverse mentorship program that led to a 96% retention rate in the first three years.
As Robertson puts it: “I tell business leaders, ‘You’re not hiring employees, you’re onboarding subscribers.’”
Administrators at a hospital that had been experiencing growing pains sought Dr. Simon’s expertise in integrating younger doctors into a culture dominated by more seasoned staff. They piloted a reverse mentorship program — and built a culture that embraces innovation and expertise in equal parts.
The hospital’s experience mirrors industry analyses that find reverse mentorship fosters innovation, engagement and resilience. One recent study attributed 67% of employee performance improvement to reverse mentorship, a figure that doesn’t surprise its adherents.
“You can learn a lot from the folks right around you, if you open your mind to it,” Dr. Simon says.
By deeply listening and demonstrably learning, leaders who engage in reverse mentoring make the kind of changes that build a stronger culture, such as Microsoft’s expanded benefits packages for diverse families or a London law firm’s gender-neutral restrooms.
“I’ve had CEOs of companies say to me, ‘Nobody hangs around after work,” says Dr. Simon, who applies her doctorate in anthropology to corporate consulting. “And I say to them, ‘Well, why don’t we find out what they would like to hang around for?’”
Millennials comprise 35% of the workforce, while Gen Z is expected to make up 30% by 2030 — that’s 65% of the workforce filled by two generations famous for their teetotaling.
“Older folks who have been used to socializing over wine or beer after work as a way to get to know each other are finding that that doesn’t work anymore,” she says. “This is a time of change. Reverse mentoring helps companies to find that change.”
With five generations tightly squeezed into one workforce, reverse mentoring leverages the power of diverse experiences to enhance decision-making. The result is a future-proofed workplace with effective leadership today and a strong leadership pipeline for tomorrow.
In his book, “Aliens Among Us: The Disconnected Generation,” Robertson says the world is being reshaped by Gen Z, whose workplace expectations, Robertson contends, are unlike any generation that has come before (hence, their designation as “aliens”).
“Gen Z is never going to become like us. We are going to have to become like them,” he says. “And when we do, what we’ve discovered — from Fortune 500 to Fortune 50 companies on — is that what we were doing with and for Gen Z actually applies to every generation of the workforce. When we use accountability to build relationships and trust, that changes the engagement. It’s beautiful.”
Reverse mentoring highlights what the younger generations value, such as relational equity and accountability. As well as what they don’t care about (or worse, are made genuinely uncomfortable by), such as performative after-hours socializing.
Robertson says one way in which understanding younger generations’ expectations of fairness helps companies to grow is by identifying who is punching above their weight class — and who is just weighing the team down.
“Nothing will kill a great employee faster than watching you tolerate a poor employee,” he says. “Your best performers leave, they unsubscribe, and they go where they have value, and the motive is good.”
Reverse mentorship also helps uncover generational differences in priorities. For example, as an anthropologist, Dr. Simon said that early in her career, her work was her identity. But for younger generations, titles alone do not shape their sense of self. They need something more out of the job — whether it’s professional development opportunities or the chance to break free from traditional hierarchies.
Zappos embraced the importance of honoring individuality when it eliminated job titles and instituted a “holacracy,” a self-governing system of operating that leans hard into this you-could-work-anywhere-so-please-choose-us way of thinking about employment. The company also famously invests in its people — and attracts top-tier talent as a result.
“In today’s environment, more people work to live than live to work,” Dr. Simon says. “They can move from place to place more easily without feeling the loss from leaving.”
By being open to real-time feedback about their performance, company culture and blind spots, leaders are using reverse mentorship to create a safe, non-hierarchical space for younger employees to share hard truths, such as misaligned goals or what’s missing from DEI efforts.
This goes to the heart of the “subscriber” model of employee, Robertson says.
“You build subscribers by building trust, and you do that by bringing application to their information, helping them accomplish and become who they want to become,” he says. “When people ‘subscribe’ to you, it’s because they trust you. They know your motivation is to grow them, and this builds a relationship of trust.”
One of the most profound effects of reverse mentorship is that it inspires leadership humility. From Accenture to PepsiCo, business leaders are benefiting from learning and growing — and transferring that growth to the entire organization.
“When you have leaders that have this mindset of mentoring, coming alongside, investing in, then all of a sudden you have a transformational culture. When you have that, the narrative becomes: ‘You won’t believe this great thing that happened at work today,’” Robertson says. “Reverse mentoring validates your culture through the stories that get told. That’s how culture becomes real.”
Launching a reverse mentorship program requires intentionality, a clear set of goals, and the ability to be comfortable with discomfort, Dr. Simon and Robertson say. Creating a plan at the outset helps veteran leaders enter into the relationship feeling intellectually curious, rather than threatened. In turn, younger, emerging leaders are empowered to realize their own career goals.
Define what you hope to achieve from reverse mentorship and align those objectives with your organization’s goals.
“You have to be intentional about it and not be uncomfortable with the hard data,” Dr. Simon says. “Ask yourself, ‘What do I want to see as the outcome? You have to be very clear at the beginning about what you think this should achieve, because in the absence of that clarity, anything could happen.”
Common sense dictates that the best approach is to match mentors and mentees based on complementary skills and knowledge gaps, taking into account personality and communication style compatibility.
Or not.
Robertson once teamed up a “grumpy” CFO with a creative, somewhat scattered young marketing team member on a delicate project. An organic trust blossomed, and weeks later, when the CFO needed a creative way to tell an important story to the company’s leadership team, guess who he turned to?
“The CFOs showed up at the meeting in a costume, and did this whole theatrical presentation,” Robertson says. “When you build trust, beautiful things can happen.”
The deep listening that comes with reverse mentorship creates a safe space for honest dialogue and feedback, encouraging active listening and mutual respect.
“[Harvard professor and author] Amy Edmondson writes about personal safety in the workplace, and why it’s so important to be able to safely say to somebody, ‘You really take control in meetings, and perhaps those of us who are newer and not as experienced as you, could share the ideas that we’ve had,’” Dr. Simon says. “But it requires a young person having the confidence that when they say this, they’re not going to lose their job. It comes from a culture of true intimacy and inclusiveness, and reverse mentorship is a great methodology for achieving that.”
You’ve set the goals, you’ve made your pairings, and you’ve created a culture of trust. Now what?
“The question is, ‘If I’m going to put the whole company through this, what do I want to see as a result?’” Dr. Simon says. “What will I measure so that I can know whether this has value?”
Measuring the results should tie into the goals you set out at the outset — whether it’s better output, or more intangible metrics such as morale. Review these metrics regularly and gather feedback from both mentors and mentees to continuously fine-tune the project.
Where can small business leaders find effective examples of reverse mentorship in action? In their own Vistage peer advisory groups.
“When I speak to Vistage groups, I’m intrigued by the elder and the younger leaders in the same room, learning from each other,” Dr. Simon says. “There’s a two-way conversation going on with each adding value quite effectively.”
While the organic exchange of ideas likely comes more easily in a peer group than in a company, Robertson says he finds that Vistage members are often open to challenging their perspectives and questioning their legacy experiences — prerequisites for implementing reverse mentorship in the workplace.
“When the CEO shows up differently, everything is different. The accountability, the way people treat each other. You’ll be amazed at how powerful it is,” he says. “Does it take deliberate focus? Yes. Anything worth time and energy does. But if you want to create a way for the younger people to hold the older ones accountable, you’ve got to create a different environment.”
Reverse mentorship helps to build that environment. One that blends humility with experience — and inspires seasoned leaders and early careerists alike to hit “subscribe.”
Why Leadership is Critical in an Economic Downturn
Why Perspective Means Power in Times of Uncertainty
Think back to the best team you’ve ever been on. Maybe it was a sports team, a work project, or even a volunteer group. Chances are, it wasn’t just about the people being smart, skilled, or well-organized.
What really made it different was this: there was an experience of what happened to one, happened to all. In other words, there was a shared fate.
Having a real and meaningful shared fate on a team is what separates the teams that pull together and perform under pressure and adversity versus those that fracture and fail to perform. It is also the ingredient most teams inside organizations are missing.
Most organizations today are structured in a very hierarchical and siloed structure. We learn to structure our organizations like this in the early 1900s when companies started to scale and we had to figure out how to organize them. This model is actually based on the military, where the generals (CEOs) are at the top thinking, officers (middle managers) are in the middle doing the telling, and the soldiers (front line employees) are at the bottom doing what they are told.It is the middle manager’s responsibility to “hold the soldiers accountable” to make sure they do what they are told.
In this model, accountability flows upward. Employees spend more energy worrying about what the boss thinks than what the customer needs. People cover their own backs instead of covering each other’s. Participants avoid talking about the real issues, and leaders end up exhausted because they’ve taken the accountability onto their own shoulders.
It’s not that people don’t care. It’s that the system doesn’t encourage them to. When the hierarchy defines success as pleasing your superior, protecting the team — or the customer — takes a back seat.
On high-functioning teams, success and failure are collective. That’s the power of shared fate in teams.
Shared fate doesn’t just appear by accident. Leaders have to build it intentionally. That might mean:
When shared fate is real, people stop hiding. They start addressing the real issues instead of ignoring them, gossiping about them, or handing them to the boss. That’s the line between a “functional” team and an accountable team.
Why It’s So Hard to Build Here’s the rub: building an accountable team requires leaders to give up some control. That can be terrifying. When the team starts holding itself accountable, the boss isn’t the hero anymore and often feels like they aren’t needed.
For team members, it’s no easier. Being on an accountable team means they can no longer run to the boss like kids to a parent. They have to work things out with each other directly — like adults. That means having the hard conversations they’ve been avoiding, taking ownership of mistakes, and holding their peers to a higher standard.
That discomfort is exactly where accountability is born. Without it, people stay in their comfort zones — and comfort never built a championship team.
Once a team establishes a real shared fate, everything changes.
Shared fate in teams transforms a group of talented individuals into a true team. It’s what separates the groups that merely function from the ones that dominate.
So here’s the challenge: what are you doing today to build shared fate in your team? Are you willing to create conditions where success is truly collective and failure is felt together?
Because in the end, shared fate isn’t just a leadership strategy. It’s a mindset shift. It’s the difference between carrying your team on your back and walking alongside them, shoulder to shoulder, toward a goal you all own together.
Want to learn more? Then check out Corinne’s discussion, Leading Accountable Teams as a First-Time CEO. The discussion includes a Q&A session with Vistage Chair Nancy Girres.
Enhancing Leadership Effectiveness: The Role of Accountability Teams
Accountability Should End in Performance, Not Pain
In this webinar, 2024 Vistage Speaker of the Year Kathleen Quinn Votaw delivers an energetic and transformative presentation on the art of selecting top talent.
Her unique approach to the science and strategy of interviewing has captivated audiences in and outside of Vistage, with one attendee declaring, “This is by far my favorite session that I’ve attended since I’ve joined Vistage 10 months ago!”
Kathleen explores the formula for selecting top talent, and her engaging style makes complex concepts easy to understand and come to life.
Precision Interviewing Guide [By Kathleen Quinn Votaw]
TalenTrust Resource Center for Vistage members with behavior-based interview questions
Kathleen Quinn Votaw is Founder and CEO of TalenTrust and KQV Speaks. She is the author of two books, “Solve the People Puzzle: How High-Growth Companies Attract and Retain Top Talent” (2016) and “Dare to Care in the Workplace: A Guide to the New Way We Work” (2021), with a related podcast launched simultaneously. Kathleen and her firm have achieved recognition from numerous media and professional organizations, including ColoradoBiz Magazine, Vistage Worldwide, Top 100 Women-Owned Companies, 2020 Enterprising Women of the Year, and the coveted Inc. 5000 for two consecutive years. Kathleen is a regularly published columnist and featured speaker on topics related to HR strategies and workplace culture. She is known for her disruption of outdated practices in the staffing industry and leadership in initiating positive change.
What happens when Seth Godin, one of the world’s most original business thinkers, challenges CEOs to rethink everything they know about strategy?
In an exclusive hour-long session with Vistage members, the bestselling author and entrepreneur redefined what it means to lead in a world shaped by uncertainty and accelerated change.
Guided by Vistage Vice President of Research Anne Petrik, the conversation spanned the evolution of strategy, the limits of traditional marketing, and the responsibility leaders have to choose significance over scale.
Drawing on key insights from his many books, Godin didn’t offer easy answers. Instead, he provided a lens through which high-performing leaders can sharpen their thinking and act with greater intent.
In today’s crowded marketplace, most leaders are taught to “build an audience.” But Seth Godin argues that’s the wrong starting point. The truth? The tribe already exists. What it needs is a leader.
“There are already clubs, but they need leaders. They need to be connected and challenged,” he says. “What they’re really hungry for is someone who cares enough to help them get where they want to go.”
From wine connoisseurs to professionals in tightly knit industries, people naturally organize around shared values. Godin’s challenge to leaders is to raise a flag, create belonging, and build something others would miss if it disappeared.
Watch this 1:42 clip to learn how CEOs can go beyond selling products to building purpose, and why the most irreplaceable businesses are the ones that choose to lead a tribe, not chase a trend.
For Seth Godin, leadership starts with clarity, and that means eliminating the false proxies that cloud decision-making and kill innovation. These proxies, he argued, are everywhere: from résumés and alma maters to quarterly stock prices and even employee feedback loops that reward comfort over courage.
“False proxies are easy measurements that aren’t helpful,” Godin says. “Don’t hire a programmer because they type fast … Don’t reward stock price over strategy. That’s what destroyed Yahoo. That’s what’s going to destroy Google and Facebook.”
The deeper issue? False proxies create pressure to conform and discourage bold decisions. But when leaders trade metrics for meaning — and surround themselves with accountability circles instead of echo chambers, they create the space for true innovation and integrity.
Watch this 2-minute clip to hear how Godin reframes leadership around intentional action, peer accountability, and the courage to stop measuring what doesn’t matter.
One of the greatest challenges CEOs face is knowing when to let go — and why that’s the only way forward. When asked how leaders can step out of the day-to-day and into the long view, Godin made the distinction clear: if you’re doing the work, you’re not doing the work of a CEO.
“If you’re actually the CEO, you shouldn’t be doing any of the jobs,” says Godin. “You should be hiring people who do the jobs … Every time you swoop in to save the day, you’ve walked away from your real job, which is to figure out what’s next.”
Godin acknowledged how difficult this can be, especially for founders who built their companies by mastering every function. But the mindset shift — from manager to true leader — is essential for sustainable growth and strategic clarity.
Watch this 1:19 clip to hear how Seth frames this turning point for high-level leaders — and why letting go is an act of bold leadership, not retreat.
Most leadership teams think they’re customer-centric. Few actually are. Seth Godin challenged CEOs to drop the spreadsheets and start with what really matters: the voice of the customer — unfiltered, unpolished, and impossible to ignore.
“Get on a Zoom call with five former customers and have them look right at the camera and explain why they left,” he says. “Then… get five people who love your product to explain why they love it. Edit it down into a 90-second video and play it for the bosses before the meeting starts.”
By making the customer experience visible and visceral, leaders shift the culture from metrics-obsessed to mission-driven. Godin pointed to iconic brands like Patagonia and Ben & Jerry’s — not for their innovation, but for how they embedded customer values into every decision.
Watch this 1:38 clip to see how this simple, human-centered approach can transform your leadership meetings — and your culture — from the inside out.
For CEOs still dabbling on the edge of AI adoption, Seth Godin had a blunt wake-up call: immersion is no longer optional. To stay relevant — and strategic — you must go beyond curiosity and build capability.
“If you’re not spending an hour and a half a day using Claude or other AI, you’re falling behind,” Godin says. “The only way to get really good at it is to do it.”
He likened generative AI to a tireless, insightful, and oddly empathic business partner — one that doesn’t want equity, just your attention. And with disruption now the default setting of modern leadership, waiting for stability is a losing bet.
Watch this 41-second clip for Godin’s urgent advice on mastering AI now — because, as he put it, “this is as normal as it is ever going to be.”
Seth Godin revisited one of his most influential concepts, “The Dip,” to help leaders recognize the difference between persistence and strategic quitting. In a world where Google ranks the best, being fourth-best simply doesn’t matter.
“If I type in ‘what’s the best whole wheat bialy in Cleveland,’ the first match is going to get all the clicks,” Godin says. “Being the fourth best one … doesn’t help.”
Between the initial excitement of starting and the reward of mastery lies the dip, a brutal stretch where most give up. But that’s exactly where the opportunity lies: when others quit, your commitment becomes a differentiator. The key is to recognize the dip before you start, and prepare to push through it.
Watch this 54-second clip to hear Godin break down how leaders can spot the dip, survive it, and come out on the other side — better, stronger, and first in line when it matters.
In a discussion packed with insight, Godin reminded us that leadership isn’t about maintaining momentum — it’s about making meaning. From questioning false proxies to embracing AI and leading tribes, his call to action was clear: the future doesn’t need more managers. It needs more leaders.
If you joined us live, revisit these clips and share them with your team. If you missed the session, you can watch the full presentation along with the modules and discussion questions. (My Vistage login required).
And remember: these takeaways are just the beginning. Lean into the uncomfortable questions. Challenge outdated assumptions. And most importantly, choose to lead — even when it’s easier not to.
Not yet a Vistage member? Join a community of high-performing CEOs committed to growth, accountability and bold thinking. Because leadership isn’t a solo act, and you shouldn’t have to do it alone.
The 6 Habits of World-Class CEOs
Building ‘Atomic Habits’ with James Clear: How to Get 1% Better Every Day
Understanding ‘Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance’ with Angela Duckworth
As much as the workplace has evolved over the last decade, the challenge of balancing AI and productivity alongside workforce dynamics remains as old as time.
For as long as humanity has existed, there has been a spectrum of work ethic. At one end sit the boisterous and ambitious “go-getters,” while the disengaged and rarely responsive “quiet quitters” sit at the other. However, all too often, the critical mass who are positioned squarely in the middle are overlooked.
These middle employees are what I like to call “quiet workers,” the dependable, heads-down, no-hysterics, drama-free employees. They may not be a company’s top performers or chasing the C-Suite, but they are also far from laggards.
Because they are neither flashy nor problematic, it can be easy to overlook their contributions; however, the reality is that “quiet workers” are the backbone of every company.
They are the people getting the lion’s share of the work done each day, and ultimately, that makes them the force moving business forward. Every organization needs those who show up each day ready to complete their role to the best of their ability.
This dynamic is evolving even more rapidly with the emergence of artificial intelligence. The relationship between AI and productivity is already driving significant, measurable improvements.
As those gains in efficiency continue to gain momentum, “quiet quitters” have fewer places to hide, and the most ambitious are unlocking new ways to get even further ahead, creating an even bigger gap for “quiet workers” to fill.
This widening bell curve leaves even more work on the plate of the “quiet worker,” and as a result, leaders must take proactive action to tap into the full potential of this group.
Leaders must ensure that employees remain engaged and connected, both with one another and with the company. To do so, they must regularly recognize and reward employees’ successes. Employee recognition isn’t solely about retention or culture; at its core, it propels performance and productivity.
In fact, all employees are at risk of being less engaged when they feel unnoticed by their leadership teams for so long that they fail to see the upside in applying themselves, slipping down the slope to a bare minimum mentality.
While the current job market has softened significantly, “quiet quitters” can stretch out their job search while doing just enough to avoid getting fired, leaving a slow but damaging drag on productivity. Left unchecked, “quiet quitting” can run rampant across organizations, becoming a viral case of the “why-even-bothers.”
In the age of AI, don’t just develop the very top and lowest performers — bring all employees along for the ride.
Leaders also must invest in learning and development for their team. If we fast forward four years to the AI-driven workplace, AI won’t replace the majority of employees — just those who fail to evolve.
To scale AI effectively and ensure their workforce is prepared for what’s ahead, leaders need to ensure they have a strong bench of employees who can: 1) envision use cases for AI, 2) build AI, and 3) operate AI.
High performers will lead innovation, and “quiet workers” offer untapped potential for effectively utilizing AI tools and agents with proper training, as they are disciplined, dependable, and open to learning new ways to work smarter.
By developing employees’ uniquely human abilities and helping them find ways to responsibly utilize AI, leaders can ensure that AI and productivity go hand in hand, enhancing processes and enabling more efficient work.
“Quiet workers” can reclaim time for the organization by learning more and developing tools for individual use. The continuous growth of the “quiet worker” propels the growth of the organization as a whole.
AI can help organizations produce higher-quality work in less time. With AI comes a shift from traditional success metrics — such as time spent working, attendance, and activity logs — to more meaningful measures like performance and productivity.
While “quiet quitters” risk being replaced by automation, leaders who focus on AI and productivity can make bigger strides toward the future by empowering “quiet workers” to help lead the charge, rather than living in fear of it.
This story first appeared in Inc.
Generative AI: Automating the Knowledge Worker [New report]
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2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the development of Brian Mayne’s Goal Mapping system. It’s a system for which Brian has won numerous global awards, reaching over six million people worldwide, and which now has more than 1,600 people certified to teach it. It’s a system that Brian will be sharing in his Vistage workshop on November 26th.
Brian’s career history demonstrates the success of the Goal Mapping system. “I was born into the two oldest UK circus families”, he says. “I travelled constantly with the funfairs as a child, I left school when I was 13, and I didn’t learn to read or write – partly because of the travelling, partly because of my dyslexia.”
At the age of 18, Brian became the youngest disco licensee in the UK. At 19, he opened a disco on the Isle of Wight that was incredibly successful for 13 years.
By the age of 29, however, life had taken a very different turn. Brian’s house had been repossessed, his marriage had fallen apart, and he was a million pounds in debt. “It was all down to the start of English people taking their holidays in the Mediterranean”, he says. “The price of air travel had dropped, and people wanted to go to Europe instead of the Isle of Wight. It was terrifying: I’d only ever worked for my dad, I had no qualifications or work experience, and I couldn’t read or write.”
Brian pursued a career in direct sales. “It was one of the only things open to me on commission”, he recalls. “The company I’d joined were running workshops to boost sales performance, and I confessed my situation to the sales trainer. He took a liking to me and showed me how I could use positive thinking not only to boost my sales, but also to overcome my learning problems with dyslexia.”
Within a year, Brian had taught himself to read and write. He began applying the personal development techniques he’d learned to every area of his life, and his sales performance rose from the lowest to the highest.
“A lot of people wanted to know how I’d done it”, he says. “So I started creating my own workshops, and within a year, I was recruited by a large training company. That taught me about personal development and corporate training – and I set up on my own in 1995 after developing the Goal Mapping concept.”
“Commanding your subconscious mind”
Brian’s Goal Mapping system uses words and pictures to activate both sides of the brain. “The pictures stimulate the creative mind and subconscious mind, and the words stimulate the conscious mind”, explains Brian. “We encourage people to write the words in the form of affirmation – personal, positive and present tense – with the imagery acting a little like a vision board, but more so in that the subconscious really responds to visual imagery.”
It’s a system favoured by major global companies including Microsoft, Siemens, Disney, Coca-Cola and more.
“It’s a very simple but effective way of commanding your subconscious mind to work with you and support you in whatever you want to achieve”, explains Brian. “So it will work with business goals, but equally it works with personal goals with people wanting to make lifestyle changes.”
Brian’s Vistage workshops are divided into two parts. “They begin with a mindset workshop”, he says. “It teaches attendees how all of us can choose our thoughts – and how choosing positive thoughts creates positive feelings. It’s about creating winning attitudes and empowering beliefs, getting people into the right headspace to choose their goal.”
The workshop then dives into the Goal Mapping technique in more detail. “I encourage attendees to define their goal, why they are aiming for it, and the things they need to do to move towards it”, he explains. “The way businesses tend to use the technique is to create a team goal map which everyone contributes to, with each team member creating their own individual map for their responsibilities, targets and KPIs that contribute to the overall team goal.”
Register for Brian’s workshop
Brian’s Vistage workshop on November 26th will help business leaders to understand the simple science of positive thinking – which forms the basis for understanding why goal-setting is so important.
“Most people don’t know how to set goals in the correct way”, say Brian. “What I see a lot with Vistage members is that they are quite natural goal setters. The people they employ, however, are not. Because they’re natural goal setters, business leaders often haven’t studied the science behind goal-setting as it’s something that’s intuitive to them.”
By using Brian’s techniques, SME leaders will leave with a framework that helps both them and their teams to not only set goals, but to follow through and achieve them, even when challenges arise.
We analyzed 47 leadership development programs serving CEOs and executive teams, evaluating them against measurable criteria for business impact and long-term outcomes.
When you’re responsible for leading a company or developing executive talent, you need programs that deliver measurable results rather than theoretical concepts. We examined programs based on their ability to drive actual business outcomes, provide accountability structures and enable long-term leadership transformation.
Our analysis shows that the most effective leadership development programs combine expert facilitation and peer learning with structured accountability systems. Below are the top 8 programs that consistently produce results for leaders and organizations.
We evaluated leadership development programs using 5 critical factors that determine real-world effectiveness:
|
Rank |
Program |
Business Impact |
Peer Quality |
Expert Facilitation |
Accountability |
Sustained Engagement |
Total Score |
|
1 |
Vistage |
30/30 |
20/20 |
20/20 |
15/15 |
15/15 |
100/100 |
|
2 |
Stanford Executive Program |
26/30 |
18/20 |
19/20 |
11/15 |
10/15 |
84/100 |
|
3 |
Harvard Business School Executive Education |
25/30 |
19/20 |
18/20 |
11/15 |
9/15 |
82/100 |
|
4 |
Center for Creative Leadership |
23/30 |
16/20 |
17/20 |
12/15 |
12/15 |
80/100 |
|
5 |
Dale Carnegie Leadership Training |
22/30 |
14/20 |
16/20 |
11/15 |
13/15 |
76/100 |
|
6 |
Franklin Covey Leadership |
20/30 |
15/20 |
15/20 |
11/15 |
11/15 |
72/100 |
|
7 |
Korn Ferry Leadership Development |
19/30 |
17/20 |
14/20 |
10/15 |
8/15 |
68/100 |
|
8 |
Gallup Leadership Development Programs |
17/30 |
13/20 |
18/20 |
11/15 |
7/15 |
66/100 |
Vistage provides monthly peer advisory groups for CEOs of $5M+ companies, combining professional executive coaching (Chair) facilitation with structured accountability systems. Members work through real business challenges using proven frameworks while building sustained relationships with non-competing peers.
For those seeking to expand leadership development to their C-level teams and beyond, Vistage offers tailored programs for every level of leadership in an organization: the Key Executive Program for the CEO’s direct reports, the Advancing Leader Program for experienced managers and team leads, and the Emerging Leader Program for high potentials and rising stars.
|
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Vistage members report “doubled the annual revenue to $22 million” and “business has grown significantly — up 30%.” Members consistently cite strategic guidance: “they recommended acquisition as my best option… within 3 months, I acquired a company” with measurable accountability driving results. |
Stanford’s Executive Program provides intensive leadership education through case studies and strategic frameworks, complemented by networking with global executives. The program focuses on building critical thinking capabilities for senior leaders.
|
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Stanford Executive Program participants call it “the best program in the world” and report “SEP gave me brilliant knowledge to transform our organization, while establishing a worldwide network of connections.” Participants describe how “it widened the realm of what’s possible” for career transformation. |
Harvard’s Executive Education programs utilize a case-study methodology and draw on world-renowned faculty to develop strategic leadership capabilities. Programs range from short courses to extended leadership development tracks.
|
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Harvard Business School participants report “the program was instrumental in helping me secure my new position as CEO” and describe the experience as “completely life changing. It’s changed how I look at the world.” Participants note building confidence at “this incredible institution.” |
The Center for Creative Leadership specializes in behavioral leadership development, combining assessments and feedback with experiential learning. Programs focus on self-awareness and interpersonal effectiveness.
|
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Center for Creative Leadership participants describe “nothing short of transformative” experiences that provide “insights into how my personality traits drove my behaviors and the impact those had on other people.” Members value the “dynamic environment” for leadership exploration and strategic development. |
Dale Carnegie offers practical leadership skills training through workshops focused on communication and interpersonal effectiveness, building team leadership. Programs emphasize confidence-building and relationship management.
|
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Dale Carnegie participants report “my self-confidence is sky high” and immediate career advancement: “halfway through this course, I was promoted to Director, and now I manage 100+ people.” Graduates gain hiring advantages with “full-time position” offers over internships. |
Franklin Covey offers leadership development based on Stephen Covey’s principles, emphasizing personal effectiveness, trust-building, and organizational culture transformation.
|
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Franklin Covey participants describe profound impact: “This session has changed me inside out,” and professional improvements, including “I have grown in the organisation, improved my organising skills.” Participants note “Franklin Covey programs have been an eye opener” for cross-functional communication enhancement. |
Korn Ferry combines leadership assessment with development programs, leveraging their executive search expertise to create leadership profiles and development plans.
|
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Korn Ferry participants call it “simply the most important development experience in my long professional life” and report “life-changing experience” that “completely shifted my thinking about myself as a leader.” Members value getting “what I really needed” through assessment-driven insights. |
Gallup offers strengths-based leadership development programs that utilize assessment tools to pinpoint individual strengths within teams and organizations. Their programs combine the CliftonStrengths assessment with workshops and coaching designed to enhance leadership effectiveness and employee engagement.
|
Summary of Online Reviews |
| Gallup program participants comment that “it’s the best investment someone could make” and that the “time invested in the sessions was always worth it.” One member noted that the experience “really allowed me as a manager to use my team in a more sophisticated way.” |
These are the best programs for CEOs in executive development programs who want to offer leadership development training to their teams.
| Rank | Program |
| #1 | Vistage Leadership Development Programs |
| #2 | Harvard Advanced Management Program |
| #3 | Wharton Advanced Management Program |
| #4 | Stanford Executive Leadership Development |
These programs are ideal for individuals seeking local networking opportunities and referral groups that prioritize connections with local business owners.
| Rank | Program |
| #1 | Business Network International (BNI) |
| #2 | Local Chamber of Commerce CEO Forums |
| #3 | YPO Regional Chapters |
| #4 | Vistage Small Business Program |
These programs are ideal for CEOs and small business owners at the beginning stages of their leadership journey.
| Rank | Program |
| #1 | Vistage Small Business Program |
| #2 | Center for Creative Leadership: Emerging Leaders |
| #3 | Franklin Covey Emerging Leaders |
| #4 | Dale Carnegie Emerging Leader Institute |
If you’re evaluating leadership development programs for yourself or your executive team, you need more than classroom learning. You need practical support that drives business results through real-world application.
| For Your Development
You get monthly sessions with CEOs facing similar challenges, guided by a Chair who’s walked in your shoes. Instead of theoretical frameworks, you work through actual decisions affecting your business using proven methodologies. |
For Your Executive Team
Your leadership team members gain access to specialized programs designed around the operational challenges they face daily. They learn from peers managing similar responsibilities while developing skills that directly impact their business performance. |
| Measurable ROI
Unlike programs that end after a few weeks, Vistage creates sustained accountability that ensures implementation. Members consistently report faster decision-making, improved strategic clarity and stronger business performance. |
Local Impact with Global Resources
You work with leaders in your market who understand your business environment while accessing insights from 45,000 members across 40 countries when specialized expertise is needed. |
The investment in leadership development pays dividends when it’s structured for real-world application rather than academic theory. Vistage provides the accountability, peer insight and expert guidance that transforms how you lead and how your business performs.
