Top 10 Reasons To NOT Join Vistage
Some high-potential candidates raise obstacles, rather than applying for membership in Vistage. Here are some of their reasons.
10. "I can't make the time to join Vistage."
You believe your time is too precious?
No Vistage member has any more time than any other member. We all have 168 hours each week. That's it. The question: how do we choose to spend our time?
Vistage members don't participate because they are bored or looking for ways to kill time. They are among the most productive business people anywhere. They are very conscious of how they invest their time.
Vistage doesn't take time. Vistage nets time. Vistage members report - within 45 or 90 days - they stop doing other people's work, start getting home earlier, and devote more time to the most important relationships in their lives.
9. "I need to wait until I get over this hump (or project or initiative or fiscal quarter)."
When were there no humps?
Anyone who thinks, "I'll have more time after I get over this hump," isn't accurately predicting the future. There will always be humps. Were you humping 24 months ago? Twelve months ago? Six months ago? If so, humping is not the cure for humping. Vistage lets you live without constant humping.
Generally, Vistage members wished they had joined six or 12 or 18 months earlier.
8. "I'm too busy in my business."
When do you work On Your Business?
Vistage members report that spending time on their business (rather than in their business) with a group of peers makes them more effective leaders.
Within months of joining Vistage, members are doing more in less time.
7. "I can't afford Vistage."
What's Your personal professional development budget?
Vistage members don't belong because they need to find some way to spend money. They do it for ROI.
Surely, it's not zero. You must be willing to invest in your own growth as a leader. If your budget allows, Vistage might be your very best alternative.
6. "No, really: I have no cash. We're on the verge of bankruptcy."
want a connection to someone who can help?
Vistage members need to have the wherewithal to fund productive change.
If you want a quick brainstorm on ideas for getting out of your cash crunch, let's sit down for an hour and discuss your options.
5. "I already have a peer group."
IS YOUR CURRENT PEER GROUP HIGH FUNCTIONING?
Vistage Chairs receive hundreds of hours of training each year. Meetings are productive - and members leave with new methods for leading their own meetings back at the office.
Can you measure the ROI you are gaining from time spent in your current peer group? If so, great! If not, what's going on? Is it a social event calling itself a "peer group"? Does your peer group have a professional, trained chairperson?
4. "I already have an executive coach."
Executive coaching is an excellent resource.
In Vistage, each one-to-one session with a Vistage Chair is put to the test of the peer group. Peers hold one another accountable more powerfully than a single coach can.
The coaching and peer group combination at Vistage amplifies the call for leadership, maximizing growth of each member.
3. "I already have an advisory board."
Who in your world gives you agenda free advice?
You have friends, trusted advisors, possibly a spouse and buddies. They all give you advice...but none of them gives you agenda-free advice. Their advice always has an agenda: their love and affection for you, their desire to impress, their axe to grind. Their advice might be good, but it isn't free from some agenda.
Vistage groups offer agenda-free advice. Members give each other their best thinking: take it or leave it. The highest performing members listen hard to what they're told at Vistage.
2. "I can't possibly learn from other people."
is your plan: to walk lonely to your grave? rip
Every Vistage member will tell you: I have learned fundamental lessons from each person in my group.
Some Vistage members arrive ready to learn. Others are reluctant to learn. but they all learn that they are not the smartest person at the table on every issue.
1. "I can't trust others with my secrets."
What's the deal? Are you a loner? Can you even trust yourself?
Vistage members learn how to trust by being trustworthy. Groups immediately study how to maintain confidentiality, because that is the necessary ingredient for true sharing.
Vistage members reach adulthood, marked by a developmental milestone: knowing what stories are ours to tell, and what stories are not ours to tell.