ChairWaves

Adam Harris spent eight years as the youngest Vistage Chair in the world, taking on the role at just 31 after his time as a CEO had ended. He built his group in the UK, then made the leap to relocate his family to New Zealand in 2019, stepping away from chairing when remote leadership wasn't yet an option for Vistage. Just months later, COVID hit, and virtual became the only option. Now based...

Most people spend their careers trying to avoid hearing no's. Columbus, Ohio Vistage Chair Shannon Lee actually went looking for them. When building her first group became the hardest stretch of her career, she gave herself a goal of ten no's a week and made a game out of getting them. Shannon spent years in education and the nonprofit world before realizing her real passion was helping le...

Leadership books have a funny way of circling back to the same uncomfortable truth: you can't lead other leaders until you've done the hard work of leading yourself. This is something Denver, CO Vistage Chair Melissa Edison Barnes is navigating in real time as she builds her first Vistage CE group.  Melissa brings a resume that spans General Mills and Harley-Davidson to early-stage startup...

Sometimes the biggest challenge for a CEO isn’t knowing what to do. It’s actually doing it. In this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, Craig James, a Vistage Chair from Westwood, Massachusetts, shares one of the lessons that surprised him most about working with business leaders: even successful CEOs need accountability. Craig also shares his journey from finance and sales to entrepreneurship, tea...

There’s something rare about a leader who still takes the time to send handwritten birthday cards. Quebec City TEC Chair Louis-Samuel Jacques has spent the last eight years building peer groups and intentionally investing in the leaders within them. In this episode of Chairwaves, Louis-Samuel talks about the shift from being a consultant focused on solving problems to becoming a Chair focused on h...

Great coaching isn’t always about direction. Sometimes it’s about attention. That idea comes through clearly in the latest episode of Chairwaves featuring New York City Vistage Chair Allan Fried. In this episode, Allan shares how his background in the music industry eventually led him into coaching, meditation, and Vistage, though he admits it took hearing about the organization three separate tim...

What kind of space do you create when you walk into a room? When Erik asked Ken Mandelbaum what he’s learned in 13 years as a Vistage Chair, Ken’s answer had little to do with tactics or process. Instead, the Northern New Jersey Chair focused on the idea of “space”: the environment leaders create through the way they listen, speak, and show up for others. In this episode of the Chairwaves podcast,...

Most people think they need to reinvent themselves to stay relevant. Mikki Williams took the opposite approach—and it worked for decades. This Chairwaves podcast episode features Chicago, IL-based Chair Emeritus Mikki Williams, a serial entrepreneur whose career spans professional speaking, leading Vistage CEO peer groups, and now building a social media following in her 80s . When asked how to bu...

What actually drives performance inside a company? It comes down to how well people show up for each other. In this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, Philadelphia, PA Vistage Chair Chris Donnelly breaks down the kind of leadership that doesn’t show up in the numbers. Drawing from his military background, Chris explains why real camaraderie, relying on the people around you to step up and deliver,...

Fenella Kim had no network, no resources, and no roadmap when she arrived in the United States—but she figured it out anyway. Fenella is a Long Island, NY-based Vistage Chair who went from high-voltage electrical engineer to serial entrepreneur, building and exiting multiple companies after arriving in the U.S. In this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, Fenella shares how a single mentor changed h...

There’s a difference between having the answers and knowing how to help someone find their own. On this episode of Chairwaves, I talk with Machen MacDonald, a Vistage Chair based in Grass Valley, California. Machen is a former financial advisor turned certified coach who works with private clients in addition to leading his Vistage group. In his work, Machen has seen a consistent pattern—leaders e...

Most business leaders think their challenges are unique. They’re not—and that realization can change everything. In this episode of Chairwaves, Gary Ostermueller, a Vistage Chair in New Jersey, talks about what changed for him after joining a TEC group. He noticed that even though businesses can look completely different on the surface, they’re all dealing with the same core problems. People issue...

If you’re not willing to dig into the details, you’re probably missing the real issue. In this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, Vistage Chair Michael Edwards, based in Lincoln, Nebraska, talks about how an unexpected path, from grocery stores to law school to building software companies, ultimately led him to Vistage. He shares how his legal background trained him to slow down, listen carefully,...

If you’ve got people, you’ve got problems. That’s true no matter where you are in your leadership journey. Rick Vanasse has built a practice around helping leaders at every level navigate one of the hardest parts of business—leading people and building strong organizations. From emerging leaders learning how to influence, to CEOs learning how to step back and truly listen, Rick sees the same chall...

In a recent Vistage meeting, Atlanta-based Vistage Chair Meredith Jolly’s group worked through issues worth more than $20 million to the companies involved. For Meredith, that experience perfectly captures the power of peer groups: leaders getting perspectives they might never have considered on their own. On this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, Meredith shares the journey that led her to becom...

Arturo Lopez didn’t build his Vistage groups the traditional way. Instead of recruiting from the usual executive circles, he looked for something different: good human beings with potential. On this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, I talk with Houston Vistage Chair Arturo Lopez. Arturo’s career and education took him through seven countries before he began building his career in Houston. He expl...

For most of his career, Rick Rodgers kept one thing to himself: he has dyslexia. He built a life in high-performance roles as a firefighter, paramedic, NASA rescue specialist, Wall Street professional, and commercial banker by working harder, pushing further, and proving he belonged. It wasn’t until his mid-30s, when he was finally diagnosed, that he began to understand how much that hidden strugg...

Most new leaders aren’t short on talent—they’re short on someone they can talk to. Jim Heller has spent his career navigating that reality. As a fourth-generation leader of a Detroit-based machining company, he joined Vistage because he didn’t want to be the one who derailed the family business. Eight years later, after firing himself as CEO and helping transition the company to outside leadership...

If you can’t walk away from your business and have it still run, do you own a company or do you just have a job? Cynthia Goro’s perspective comes from experience. She grew up in her family’s garbage truck manufacturing business in Iowa, became president, and led the company through rapid growth, restructuring after 9/11, and a successful exit. Along the way, she discovered that real value isn’t ju...

When things go wrong in business—or in sports—the fastest way forward usually starts with personal accountability. In the latest episode of the Chairwaves podcast, Lance Vieira explains why leaders have to look in the mirror before blaming circumstances and why trying to solve everything on their own often creates bigger problems. Drawing from decades as a football coach and business leader, Lance...

Some people sell products. Bob Wightman sells possibility, and a path to better decision-making. After 40 years in banking, including starting two banks from scratch, Bob now helps business owners and executives navigate the unknown through peer advisory groups. From the chaos of the '80s banking collapse to leading five Vistage groups—four with a co-chair—Bob’s journey is packed with insight....

What happens when a group of CEOs shows up with both head and heart? According to Salt Lake City Chair Laura Langehaug, that’s when real leadership conversations begin.  In this episode of the Chairwaves podcast, Laura shares how her background in human capital and executive recruiting helped her recognize a common thread among high-performing leaders: isolation. Her Vistage group breaks that patt...

What does a college basketball coach know about business? Matt Doherty gets that question a lot. But once he lays it out—recruiting, training, budgeting, board management, media relations—it’s clear the overlap is bigger than people think. In this episode, Matt unpacks how leading high-performance teams on the court prepared him to guide business leaders in the boardroom. From playing alongside Mi...

Some people crumble in adversity. Others discover a kind of fuel. For Heatherann Antonacci, that fuel has always been an inner spirit, a quiet resilience she believes everyone has, even if they haven’t tapped into it yet. In this episode of Chairwaves , Heatherann shares her journey from a career on the business side of academia to leading four Vistage groups in Orlando. From guiding students to g...

Sarah Castle spent 15 years at Amazon, helping launch products and lead technical teams, but today she’s focused on something very different: creating space for business leaders to think, grow, and challenge themselves. As a Charleston-based Vistage Chair, Sarah brings a balanced combination of enterprise experience and coaching expertise. In this episode of Chairwaves , we talk about her passion...