Robert Powell, Best Practice Chair, Vistage
From training and development, strategic planning, to devising an exit plan, small and midsized business owners bear the brunt of making sure their operations are running smoothly. To help deal with the known and unknowns, CEO service and peer advisory firm Vistage is there to help business owners realize the full potential of their operations. In an interview with Invest:, Robert Powell, best practice chair for Vistage, highlighted the importance of developing talent from within and the power of having focused conversations revolving around strategic planning and exit strategies.
How have economic changes and uncertainty shaped the small to midsize business market?
There is always a need for top talent — the availability of top talent is not as plentiful as it has been. Our members have developed a clear focus on what they need within their talent base. They are looking at their people and determining what are the development needs of the people they have. To acquire talent, most businesses need to employ either a build or a buy strategy. A buy is to hire people externally. A build is when you focus on the current team and develop their skills. I’m seeing a movement toward focusing on the build strategy due to the talent pool not being as readily available as in the past. When COVID hit in 2020, there was a big shift in the talent market. People moved from one company to another, and salaries increased, among other factors. This has since calmed down. However, the availability of talent is not as plentiful as it was. As such, this is why there is a focus on building on what you have within your own workforce.
Which programs or new initiatives have had the biggest impact on your members?
Within Vistage, we aim to have leadership development opportunities for each level within a members’ organization. This starts at the top, certainly with the CEO or the owner of the business, down to the next level, who are the people who report to those individuals, which we call the Key Executives. From there, we have what is known as Advancing Leaders. These are the individuals who report to the key executives that have the potential to become key executives down the line. We also have another level known as emerging leaders — the supervisory level employees or those who have high potential that you want to invest in. We aim to meet with each level within the organization with leadership development opportunities. Our focus is on small and midsized businesses, and they may not have robust training and development departments. We provide leadership development offerings to them so that they can create alignment between the different types of strategic initiatives that the company may have and provide learning to align with where the organization is heading.
What is the state of small and midsized business leadership in Pittsburgh?
It is wide. My background has mostly been with Fortune 500 companies. Until I started working with Vistage, I was not aware of the magnitude of the small and midsized market within Greater Pittsburgh, and more importantly, the impact that they have on the region. When we look at leaders of small and midsized businesses, it runs a wide range. We have individuals, who are solo entrepreneurs and start things from scratch on their own, to family-owned businesses. We have a very large mix. We also have a very large mix as it relates to industries and services. Those leaders look at Vistage not only to help them become better leaders but also to help them grow their business. Overall, the Pittsburgh market has a history of being pretty stable and it continues to grow.
What trends are you seeing in the CEO service and peer advisory market?
It depends on the leader. Some leaders are looking to expand, whether it be at the national or global level. Some leaders want to stay strong regionally because their product or service may not lend itself to expand very far, but they still aim to grow in one fashion or another. Our members are about making sure that they can find a resource such as Vistage to help them gain necessary insights. For example, some of our offerings include helping leaders get a business valuation so they can understand the current value of their business. At some point, every business owner is going to have an event where they are no longer leading the business, and they will need to do something. That could be to sell the business or keep it and have someone else run it. But there needs to be some level of continuity. Understanding a business valuation and how to grow that value is extremely important. We provide that to our members. The other side of the coin is strategy. Businesses need to evaluate what strategy they will employ to be best in their field. We offer the strategic planning component to our members.
In what ways is Vistage helping its members with mental burnout?
We have outstanding speakers on the topic of overall health. We frequently have these speakers present to our members. Our members also have access to Healthnet. This organization assists our members by gaining access to some of the best healthcare providers in the country.
Also, the peer group is a great anchor for us. Having a group of peers who can challenge assumptions and question answers provides a strong insight. As leaders go through different challenges and discuss them in our meetings, many times people say that the questions asked really made them think about their business and themselves. It is really about the power of the peer group and them supporting each other and challenging each other to be better by asking those questions.
How does Vistage plan to foster deeper connections in the Pittsburgh market?
We are looking to expand our base of chairs within the Pittsburgh market. We also evaluate ways to market in our local area. We’ve found that the tried-and-true method of connecting through our networks remains the No. 1 way that we can build knowledge of the market. Where we started versus where we are now is very, very different. We are more well known within the Pittsburgh market than where we have been. We’ve found that being out there and talking to people is one of our biggest tools. And certainly, if our members are endorsing us then that is the best thing you can get in any type of business. We are very selective as to who will be a Vistage member. As such, that word of mouth really works for us.
What are your top priorities for the near term?
According to our CEO Confidence Survey, many of our members are planning to have an exit over the next three to five years. When we say exit, it does not mean that they are necessarily going to sell the business — it could be passed on to a family member or otherwise. We know that many members are planning to have some type of exit or transactional event soon. Our goal is to support our members in that process. One would be to understand the current value of their business and then to shore up the areas they need to improve to increase the value of their business, and then to ensure a smooth transition. Many of our members have been working for a long time and may not have given thought to what they will do after they exit their business, so we also have those kinds of conversations. When someone has poured their whole life into a business, it is hard for them to detach themselves. As such, we focus on helping them make that transition. We speak to them about this from day one when they become a member. We want them to consider their exit plan and what they want their life to look like. We focus on those conversations.
