Growth Insights for CEOs

Growth Without Guesswork: The Questions Great Vistage Chairs Ask
Executive Takeaways
- Most CEOs are managing growth on assumptions that no longer reflect how buyers actually buy.
- The best Chair question isn't "how is sales going?" It's "where are the growth leaks?"
- AI search is already a revenue issue, not a future one.
- Insight without commitment is just a good conversation.
After leading more than 150 Vistage workshops, working with hundreds of CEOs navigating growth challenges, and spending more than 10 years as a Vistage member myself, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern in conversations with business leaders. No matter the industry, the symptoms sound familiar.
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How to Develop Future C-Suite Leaders: A Guide for Mentoring and Succession Planning
Fri, Apr 10, 2026 — Executive Takeaways Succession gaps quietly erode growth, value, and decision speed Strong companies treat succession as a continuous leadership discipline A 1/3/5-year talent map builds a visible, scalable leadership pipeline Sponsorship, mentoring, and coaching turn high-potential talent into ready leaders Ambition is the easy part. The real question is whether your company’s future CEO’s, CFOs, COOs, CMO’s and CROs are already growing inside the business long before you need them.

AI Search is Here – And it’s Reshaping the Buyer Journey
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The 3 Distinct Advantages of Vistage
Sat, Sep 15, 2012 — Leaders of mid-sized companies are pretty impressive people. As leaders, they bring insight, determination and courage to work every day. So where do the great CEOs of these companies go to get better? Some 16,000 mid-market leaders worldwide have figured a way to get expert advice – from each other. As a Vistage member, a roomful of CEOs during any given monthly meeting may be directing their focus on your business. Over time, they’ve gotten to know how you tick. And they’re providing insights; offering their experience; even holding you accountable from one meeting to the next. That’s the core value that Vistage brings its members. Chair Leadership The concept of CEO peer groups isn’t unique. But it’s highly effective. And Vistage has honed the practice to an art. By recruiting top business leaders still in their prime into the role of Chairs, then assembling “boards” of CEOs of similarly sized non-competitive companies, Vistage orchestrates an environment that is unmatched by any other CEO peer group organization that we’ve encountered at Chief Outsiders. Patrick “Pat” Mulligan of Austin knows the value of Vistage inside and out. As a young CEO, he joined Vistage in 1987 and learned firsthand how a peer group of business leaders could improve performance. Now, Pat is putting his decades of experience to use as one of the founding Chairs in Austin, and leader of 3 peer groups. There are several dynamics in his peer groups that work together to ensure value for his members: