If you stay in Vistage long enough, your CEO Peers will become your close friends.
Actually, you don't have to stay in Vistage very long at all. Upon joining Vistage you will quickly come to understand the Trust, the Loyalty, the Comradery and the Confidentiality that each member has for each other. Over the years, this bond will solidify and each member will become what I call a "Foxhole Friend".
The first time I ever heard this term was when my father explained it to me. He suggested choosing my friends very carefully because when the bullets start flying and it's time to jump out of the foxhole and run across that field, you'd better really know who's got your back and who's covering your ass. I've never forgotten that and to this day, I can tell you, unequivocally, who my Foxhole Friends are.
I joined Vistage sometime before the year 2000, when the world was supposed to come to an end. Fast-forward a few years and low-and-behold we all survived.
With Y2K in the rearview mirror, we all kept growing our respective businesses, through the trials and tribulations, the awards and disasters, we pressed on. Each month brought a new poster-child to the Group with an issue for us to ponder.
Most months, we collaborated on business issues: partner relationships; compensation plans; hiring practices; new market expansion strategy and new product introductions. However, it wasn't uncommon that a Member would bring an issue to the Group that hit closer to home. This was when a Member would solidify a Foxhole Friend.
Sharing issues that a Member was bringing from home usually quieted the Group and brought a different perspective and reflection. Whether the issue was a spousal relationship issue, a child veering off course or the death of a loved one, every Member got serious. Each Member was there to help cover each other.
If you stay in Vistage long enough, your CEO Peers will become your close friends - and sooner or later, you're going to lose one of these friends. Since joining Vistage over twenty years ago, I have lost five Members of our Group.
I remember each one of their idiosyncrasies, their laughs and the questions they would ask potential new Members before we might offer a seat in our Vistage Group. I remember their issues and I remember their wisdom. But most of all, I remember their friendship and the fact that they were Foxhole Friends.
So today, at the start of another blazingly hot summer day in 2024, I want to remember that Gary & Paul & Gary & Max & Jansen still have my back. Now, as Max used to say, "You've got to go out and trade you own account. Nobody has as much a vested interest as you."