Dr. Anton Bizzell | Vistage Impact Award Winner President & CEO, Bizzell US
Hyattsville, Maryland
Vistage member since 2022
High-performing leaders often face a paradox: the same relentless drive that builds a thriving company can quietly weaken the foundation beneath it. For SMB CEOs, the tension between growth and sustainability isn’t theoretical; it’s the daily reality of leading through uncertainty, limited resources, and the constant pressure to do more with less.
In honor of Black History Month, we’re sharing 3 case studies featuring Black Vistage CEO members whose leadership journeys offer powerful lessons in resilience, clarity, and sustainable performance. Each faced a defining moment that forced them to rethink not only their business strategy but also their leadership approach.
Dr. Anton Bizzell realized he was treating symptoms rather than solving root problems — first in medicine, then in how he built his company. Rosalyn Merrick stepped into leadership during the pandemic, when her building emptied overnight and her team scattered. Ola Sage lost significant revenue in just 3 months while already running on fumes.
What connects their stories is a counterintuitive truth. Rather than intensity, sustainable high performance comes from leading with clarity, discipline, and intention. Their frameworks offer practical, time-tested answers to the questions CEOs wrestle with most, and a clearer path forward when the pressure feels endless.
Dr. Anton Bizzell | Vistage Impact Award Winner
President & CEO, Bizzell US
Hyattsville, Maryland
Vistage member since 2022
When Dr. Anton Bizzell, CEO of Bizzell US, treated patients at Howard University, he noticed a troubling pattern. Patients returned repeatedly with manageable conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and asthma, but the root causes remained unaddressed.
“I realized I was treating the symptoms of broken systems rather than the root causes of illness,” he recalls. This insight sparked his transition from physician to entrepreneur, founding a consulting firm focused on health education and the social determinants of health.
Today, Dr. Bizzell leads a thriving organization that operates globally, from supporting STEM programs for K-12 students to installing freshwater systems in impoverished African communities. His journey from bedside to boardroom offers a masterclass in building resilient, high-performance organizations.
Dr. Bizzell’s medical training shaped his leadership philosophy in unexpected ways. “In medicine, you’re trained to diagnose before you treat and understand systems before you intervene,” he explains. This disciplined approach prevents reactive decision-making and short-term fixes, two common pitfalls that derail many growing businesses.
When challenges arise, he resists the urge to intervene immediately. Instead, he asks 3 critical questions:
This framework has proven invaluable during crises such as pandemics, government shutdowns, and broader market turbulence. “Don’t abandon your structure in a crisis,” he advises. “Your structure matters most. Slow down your thinking, speed up your execution, but don’t confuse urgency with panic.”
Drawing on his experience, his most actionable advice for fellow CEOs is simple yet critical: build your systems before you think you need them. From the company’s inception, he established financial controls, human resources infrastructure, and clear accountability measures. “When you’re ready to scale up, if you don’t have those systems in place, it’s going to be noticeable,” he warns.
This principle extends to company culture, which Dr. Bizzell treats as an operating system rather than a slogan. He focuses on how decisions are made, how leaders behave when no one is watching and how to ensure clarity around performance, communication, and ownership.
Coming from an underserved community himself, Dr. Bizzell rejects the false choice between social impact and financial strength. “Just because you serve an underserved community doesn’t mean you’re going to lower your standards or sacrifice financial discipline,” he asserts. In fact, working in complex environments requires running a well-run organization to succeed.
“When you align your purpose with your performance, growth becomes a byproduct of doing meaningful work,” Dr. Bizzell notes. At its core, his approach to resilience is grounded in discipline, asking the same fundamental questions today as he did a decade ago. “Strategy isn’t about avoiding pain. It’s about choosing the right pain.”
Rosalyn Merrick | Vistage Leadership Award Winner
President & CEO, Atlanta Habitat for Humanity
Atlanta, Georgia
Vistage Member since 2022
When Rosalyn Merrick joined Atlanta Habitat for Humanity as chief development officer in November 2020, the offices were empty, staff were dispersed, and the organization’s heartbeat — its volunteers — were largely limited to virtual engagement.
In the proverbial eye of the storm, Rosalyn picked up the phone.
She spent her first months calling top contributors and volunteers, not to fundraise, but to listen. What she heard from the organization’s most loyal supporters changed her approach to leadership entirely. “I’ve been so lonely,” one told her. “It wasn’t until I couldn’t be there, building with Habitat, that I realized how much joy and fulfillment it gave me.”
Today, as CEO of “one of Habitat for Humanity’s leading affiliates by production and impact in its 900+ affiliate global network, Merrick leads with vulnerability to accelerate performance. She learned the value of vulnerability by necessity. During the pandemic, every business call began with check-ins and an emphasis on genuine human connection, revealing a profound lesson.
“We all were vulnerable because we didn’t know what else to be,” Rosalyn reflects. “It was such a humanizing moment that I try to carry that forward.”
That transparency proved to be a strategic advantage. When Atlanta Habitat needed to shift from primarily volunteer-led construction to a hybrid model that also incorporated construction staff and subcontractors, Rosalyn involved stakeholders in designing the solution. By seeking advice rather than announcing decisions, she fostered ownership among those who would execute the change.
Rosalyn’s path to the CEO seat also tested her resilience. She didn’t land the permanent role immediately, despite serving as interim CEO and competing in the formal selection process. Some expected her to leave. Instead, she stepped in as chief operating officer.
“I chose this work,” she recalls telling her staff. “I chose this team because I know how much this mission matters to all of us, and I know we can expand its impact, together.”
Leading one of Habitat for Humanity International’s largest independent affiliates while serving the Atlanta region with a focus on affordable homeownership means navigating constant pressure among funding opportunities, market trends, and stakeholder expectations—particularly in a rapidly changing housing market.
Rosalyn keeps focus through her crystal-clear vision that Atlanta Habitat centers its work on affordable homeownership as a pathway to stability and legacy.
That vision is more than aspirational for Rosalyn; it’s a decision-making filter. When opportunities arise, she asks, “How is this relevant to where we’re ultimately trying to go?”
For CEOs navigating uncertainty, Rosalyn suggests acknowledging the hard things out loud, involving people in solutions and staying ruthlessly focused on vision.
“Name what is stirring right now so we can deal with it and then deal with the real matter at hand,” she advises. That honesty creates speed, cutting through resistance to reach productive decisions faster.
Ola Sage | Vistage Chair since 2019
CEO, CyberRx
Silver Spring, Maryland
Joined Vistage in 2007
Ola Sage’s journey into entrepreneurship was unintentional. In 1999, her goal was simply to consult. But when her employer won a recompete for a major government contract and needed her to lead it, she suddenly found herself running a fledgling business with four employees, no business plan, and a steep learning curve.
“I was leading by fire,” she recalls. “Whatever needed to be done, I did it.” Working 7 days a week. Recruiting her brother to work with her. Learning as she went.
For high-performing CEOs like Sage, the warning signs of burnout often hide behind relentless drive and commitment. And in her case, they came to a head when her IT professional services company lost significant revenue in just 3 months due to government budget cuts, forcing her to cut 20% of her workforce almost overnight. The crisis demanded everything she had. The problem was, she’d already been giving everything she had for years.
That moment became a turning point for Sage, not just in how she ran her business, but in how she thought about leadership itself. Through self-study, joining Vistage, and building a network of peers, Sage developed a leadership philosophy centered on a deceptively simple question: What’s Important Now? The WIN framework, which Greg McKeown captured in his book, “Essentialism,” became foundational to her leadership approach.
“Sometimes what was important now was just getting through the day,” she says. “Sometimes it was creating a list of 20 action items and figuring out which 3 were absolutely essential. Sometimes it was taking a nap.”
This focus on the essentials extended beyond crisis management. Leading her first company, Sage tried to do everything from enterprise architecture to software development to network engineering. “Jack of all trades, master of none,” she reflects. But when she launched her second company, CyberRx, she deliberately chose to forgo other potential revenue streams and focus on excellence in one area, challenging her lifelong equation of quitting with failure.
Now, Ola operates from a place of “intention,” guided by clear questions. Am I meeting my standard of excellence? Am I sleeping well? Am I spending time with people who matter?
Today, she guides other leaders as a Vistage Chair of 3 executive groups and CEO of 2 businesses. But Sage says her greatest evolution has been internal. “I’ve transitioned from leader-coach to coach-leader. It’s less about me solving their problems and more about coaching them into how to do it themselves.”
As we kick off 2026, cyberattacks remain the single greatest threat to businesses and individuals. They can swiftly shut down a business, compromise its data, or drain a Bitcoin account in one fell swoop. And with the rapid adoption of AI, they are only gaining momentum.
In 2025, 4.3% of small- to midsize-business (SMB) CEOs who responded to a Vistage survey said their businesses had experienced a cyberattack resulting in data loss. Meanwhile, another 19% reported having attacks that did not end in a loss. And while roughly 23% (nearly a quarter) of SMBs experiencing a cybersecurity issue may not seem like a mass issue requiring immediate attention, the potential price tag of an attack is unignorable: IBM reports that data breaches hit an all-time high for U.S. businesses in 2026, costing an average of $10.22M.
Plus, separate research suggests that roughly 40% of cyber incidents go unreported, meaning the problem is even more widespread than what we see on paper. Cybersecurity remains a critical concern for businesses of all sizes and industries, and it is also a significant concern for CEOs on an individual level — their perceived wealth makes them a target for cybercriminals seeking their next victim.
Despite this clear and present danger, cyber readiness has remained relatively stagnant over the past 4+ years, with recent Vistage research showing that 15.5% of SMBs still lack a cyber strategy as we enter 2026. Nearly two in ten organizations are risking devastating impacts to their business each day.
And while, from a CEO’s perspective, the cyber landscape may not seem vastly different than 2020, the reality is it’s evolving rapidly. Artificial intelligence has quickly become the most powerful tool in every cybercriminal’s arsenal, drastically shifting the advantage to the attacker. Today, they can create high-quality phishing attacks at scale, effectively enabling them to industrialize cybercrime.
With the click of a button, they can scan businesses’ networks for vulnerabilities and deploy deep fake audio, visuals, and seamless e-mail impersonations of leaders and other people in positions of power – all at the speed of AI. These attacks are cheaper, faster, and more targeted. SMBs that were once too small to hunt are now easy targets, exposed to vulnerabilities and a lack of preparedness compared to enterprise organizations. Given how quickly technology is transforming, CEOs need to understand that their cyber strategy cannot be set and left on a shelf. New tactics are emerging overnight, rendering prior approaches obsolete.
AI is at the forefront of business. Learn to leverage it and its potential for disruption and growth. Visit the Vistage AI Resource Center.
The following are a few best practices every CEO should keep in mind as they look to stay on top of their cyber preparedness in 2026 and beyond:
In general, you should always have a “doomsday bag” at the ready in case of a cyber-attack. This entails having an answer to the following question: if you were to lose your data in the next 30 seconds, what would you do in the 30 seconds that follow?
Many CEOs treat cyber as an IT department cost — they view it as part of the infrastructure and a lower priority because it is not a growth enabler. But put simply, it’s the unavoidable cost of doing business in the modern world. Like insurance, you don’t need a cyber strategy until you do — and in today’s AI-driven world, every company is one click away from data darkness.
This story first appeared in Inc.
As remote work has become more common, organizations have found that employees can perform well from afar. The problem? Maintaining long-term remote employee engagement can be difficult.
The issue is often less about an employee’s engagement with work and more about their engagement with colleagues and the company culture. Away from a bustling office, remote employees often feel distant.
A 2025 Gallup report finds that 31% of remote workers report feeling engaged, higher than hybrid and on-site employees. But it also found that 45% of remote employees report feeling more stress, 30% more sadness, and 27% more loneliness than on-site employees.
And CEOs worry that remote employees will lose out on company culture. Without in-person communication with a team, executives fear that remote employees will experience weakened motivation, poor alignment with their team, and, eventually, diminished performance at work.
“Remote work is awesome, and it’s also terrible,” says Kim Svoboda, a Vistage speaker and member, as well as founder and CEO of Aspiration Catalyst. “You can tap into new talent because now you have access to literally anyone in the world, as it doesn’t really matter where they live. From an individual perspective, it gives us a lot more flexibility to live our lives professionally and personally.”
But too often, Svoboda says that remote employees lose out on the deep communication that on-site employees get daily. For example, Svoboda serves as the chair of the board of directors of the Better Business Bureau in Chicago. Recently, she led a meeting in which 40% of participants attended remotely.
It’s too bad, she says, because they are missing out on the great informal networking and relationship building that happens before and after meetings, something lost over a video call.
There’s also an inherent inner-office conflict in remote work, according to Dr. Kent Wessinger, a Vistage speaker as well as CEO of 3 WINS! and previously an academic. While older employees have become more open to remote work — 35% of Baby Boomer and Generation X employees are fully remote, according to Gallup, compared with 23% Generation Z employees — there’s still resentment in organizations where some people need to be in the office, and others can work remotely due to their function at work.
“As leaders, we’re not managing that internal conflict well,” Wessinger says.
But remote work is not going away. The Vistage CEO Confidence Index reports that in the 3rd quarter of 2025, 8% of organizations were fully remote and 43% were hybrid. That means more than 50% of businesses currently manage some number of remote employees.
And Gallup reports higher numbers. In May 2025, it found that 28% of companies were fully remote, compared with 21% fully on-site.
The answer cannot be to assume remote work will sort itself out over time. Instead, executives must engineer long-term engagement of remote employees.
Organizations looking to improve long-term remote employee engagement must intentionally prioritize clarity, trust, and connection as core values.
Svoboda, who runs a fully remote business, says it’s more difficult to build relationships through tools like Zoom and Slack than face-to-face. In person, communication can often just happen — people pass in the hall or meet in the lunchroom. To build relationships with remote employees, leaders must intentionally communicate, even informally.
“The leaders who are doing well in this new remote environment are thoughtful about how they’re creating setting expectations and creating opportunities for people to connect,” Svoboda says.
One of Svoboda’s clients hosts quarterly in-person meetings for all employees. Bringing everyone together for a couple of days has helped them forge stronger connections.
Clients have also seen success by setting clear performance expectations for all employees. These can be KPIs, success metrics, or as simple as the number of calls sales employees need to make each day. Whatever the measure, clear expectations help remote employees see what success looks like in their roles.
Perhaps the most important way to create trust, clarity, and connection with remote employees is to set regular communication touchpoints, Svoboda says. These meetings don’t have to be long, perhaps 10 to 15 minutes each week. But they can be an intentional way to check in with employees about their work and how they’re doing on a human level.
Instead of meeting on Zoom every time, Svoboda suggests finding more informal ways to connect with remote employees. Often, she’ll talk with employees over the phone and go for a walk together, which often leads to deeper, more intimate conversations that extend beyond day-to-day work.
While these conversations may sometimes delve into success metrics and KPIs outlined for employees, that’s not necessary every time. These are often lagging indicators saved for performance reviews, Svoboda says, where managers and employees can dig into what went well and what didn’t. But delving deeply into them each week may feel more like micromanagement than accountability.
Still, Svoboda says that there are leading indicators that can be discussed in these weekly meetings. How do the employees feel about their work? What’s going well? What isn’t going well? Are there any areas where they feel lost or need help? These conversations can help keep both remote employees and their managers engaged.
For the past decade, Wessinger has been researching people’s perspectives on work, particularly across multiple generations and roles.
Wessinger found that 83% of leaders today are concerned about the future of their companies regarding the younger workforce. His goal with clients is to help them build confidence through a few simple practices that benefit both on-site and remote employees.
The first practice Wessinger found is creating a clearly defined path of growth and success for each employee within the company. This helps employees understand how to succeed within the organization and, for those who move up, feel recognized and appreciated at work.
“If leaders want to retain a talented younger workforce, they’ve got to have a clearly defined path of growth when they’re onboarding people,” Wessinger says, something that is especially true for companies hoping to engage their remote workforce. “That not only attracts talented employees, but it also keeps them engaged.”
Another successful method to foster engagement has been to create small-group mentorship programs, populated by a mix of remote, hybrid, and on-site employees. These are small groups within the company that are not focused on careers, Wessinger says, but on growth, success, and life. These groups meet once a month for an hour, allowing them to stay in touch without overloading their schedules with meetings. Group members often end up holding each other accountable at work, he says, even if the groups aren’t focused on work.
Today, Wessinger says he’s helped companies build groups with more than 30,000 employees participating, and he’s received feedback that these companies experience greater trust and accountability among their employees. Trust is what Gallup calls “the Achilles’ heel of remote work,” as only 57% of employees say they feel trusted by their manager to be productive when working remotely. Similarly, only 54% of managers with remote employees trust their teams to be productive when remote.
These groups address what Wessinger says is the top reason younger, often remote, employees leave a company: not feeling their voices are heard at work.
By giving employees a small group, he’s found they’re more likely to trust their coworkers and feel understood within the organization. Once per month, for one hour, he says these groups gather in person, which strengthens trust and connection within the groups and across the entire workforce.
Wessinger says, “When trust is intentionally engineered into the culture of the company, people do not leave. It costs on average, $34,000 every time someone walks out of your door,” Wessinger says. “If you lose 10 employees a year, that’s $340,000. I’ve seen companies losing more than 1,000 employees per year when they come to me, and I’ve seen very few P&L statements that accurately reflect that expense. It comes straight out of profitability.”
No employee, remote or otherwise, takes a job wanting to leave. Leaving happens when employees feel stuck and unheard — and when remote employees don’t feel trusted or engaged by the company. By creating pathways for growth and small mentorship groups focused on whole-life development, organizations can build trust and engagement among remote employees.
Once executives know the toll of isolation, career stagnation, and lack of trust, they can intentionally build a system that engages everyone. That means creating remote-specific engagement levers for remote employees.
Leaders must set clear expectations, Svoboda says, to drive clear goals, accountability, and strong communication. The best leaders are intentional about setting the standard for how communication happens with all employees, she says, including training managers to keep remote employees engaged.
In his clients’ small groups, Wessinger says that managers and C-suite executives get their own groups. This ensures they aren’t intruding on employee groups, but also that they’re living up to the standard they are setting for the company’s culture.
These groups can be especially helpful for managers, who can better learn to communicate one-on-one with employees and identify when a remote employee is drifting early.
Forming a culture of mentorship is a must, Svoboda agrees. If a company doesn’t build a small-group mentorship program, she suggests creating a one-on-one peer-mentorship program for remote employees from day one.
For on-site employees, organizational mentors often form naturally when a new employee talks to someone nearby about culture, expectations, and life at work. But for remote employees, this must be done intentionally — they should be assigned a point of contact they can call or chat with with questions or concerns.
These conversations can flow more easily if leaders invest in high-quality collaboration tools. But leaders must be careful to avoid surveillance tools, which breed mistrust, and resist the urge to inundate remote employees with meetings to foster engagement. While some level of connection and control of schedule is good — Gallup finds that 76% of employees with self-directed schedules face burnout — too much can become a business problem. A study by Otter.AI and Dr. Steven Rogelberg found that one-third of meetings were unnecessary.
If an organization struggles with engagement now, that does not mean that will always be the case. One of Svoboda’s clients was struggling to engage remote employees, so Svoboda began by guiding the company in setting expectations for each employee. What does success look like for each role? The company worked to answer this for each employee.
Next, she says that the organization had everyone take the Clifton Strengths Assessment. This assessment serves as a “secret decoder ring” for the different talents each team member has, Svoboda says, giving executives, managers, and employees a full view of their own strengths and others’. This especially helps when some or all employees are remote, as it gives others a deeper understanding of who they are.
“Especially when there are remote employees, this Assessment is great because they get to know each other,” Svoboda says. “I might have people from all around the country that are on a Zoom call together, and they’ve got a much deeper connection with each other because they see their commonalities. It’s a great way for us to appreciate ourselves, but also each other.”
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Executives can also try a unique competition that Wessinger says has generated better-engaged remote employees and created new lines of income for his clients.
Each year, many of his clients host a Shark Tank-style competition in which employees in small mentorship groups develop new ideas to strengthen client and employee relationships with the company. Many of Wessinger’s clients have generated new revenue streams through this competition while also enabling employees to speak up, feel heard, and potentially be rewarded at work. These are all things that drive engagement of remote and all employees.
Five years ago, one of Wessinger’s client companies in Atlanta offered each member of the winning team a $200 Amazon card. This past year, each member of the winning team received a Chevrolet Silverado.
“They can do that because the revenue streams from those ideas get larger and larger every single year,” Wessinger says. Last year’s revenue stream from the winning idea generated $13.2 million of new revenue. They want to continue to accentuate and extract ideas from their employees. They’re allowing their employees to be true innovators within their company. It removes a huge weight from leadership.”
At three companies he’s worked with, people generated ideas that became new departments or initiatives they now lead within the organization. “They actually created themselves a new job inside the company,” he says. This kind of potential for growth can’t help but engage employees, he said, and allows remote and on-site employees to have more unique interactions.
Success won’t come overnight when installing a long-term engagement plan for remote workers. But a plan can be built month-by-month, expanding over time.
Month one: Establish clarity for employees by ensuring they’re clear on what success means in their role. Set up a KPI dashboard. Lay the foundation for engagement by scheduling regular meetings with employees.
Month two: Ensure remote employees have mentors within the company or perhaps set up a small-group mentorship program. Pilot a recognition program for employees. Start cultural rituals that make remote employees feel included in the organization.
Month three: Define a path of growth for each role so employees know how they can be successful. Plan for off-site or on-site meetings where all employees, even fully remote, meet in person. Consider unique ideas that foster engagement, such as Wessinger’s competition for employees to generate new ideas for the company.
While this may be an aggressive timeline, one that may take closer to a year to truly refine, Svoboda says that having a focused timeline can increase the chance of success. This is true even if the roadmap is a year rather than a quarter.
“You can really make great progress, and you keep your focus on just a couple of priorities, versus trying to boil the ocean,” she says.
A well-engaged team can be sustained over the long term, Wessinger says, but it requires the fuel of accountability and community.
“Active accountability is the fuel that keeps this moving forward, while also fueling trust,” he says. “And while we missed the power of community a bit after the pandemic, it’s starting to rear its head again in a positive way. Both together are very powerful.”
For executives seeking to build an engaged workforce—remote, hybrid, and on-site alike—joining a Vistage group can help them identify the insights and practices that sustain engagement across the entire workforce.
Sales is often seen as something you’re either innately good or bad at. But one early experience taught Lars Tewes that the reality is far different.
Lars is a sales leadership expert and founder of a global sales consultancy that helps CEOs and leadership teams build high-performing sales organisations.
At nineteen, he travelled to the US to learn how to sell, and made a discovery that fundamentally shaped the way he approached sales.
“In England, we don’t really think of sales as a profession,” he explains. “We think of it as a black art: you either can sell or you can’t.”
But in the US, he saw something entirely different. Selling was structured, respected, and taught with the same discipline as any other profession. There were processes, frameworks, and clear expectations. And people were proud to work in sales.
“I took the American knowledge of selling and founded a consultancy that helped UK businesses put those proven sales structures in place.”
Today, he helps CEOs understand what effective sales leadership actually looks like, and what it takes to build a high-performing sales team.
We caught up with Lars ahead of his Vistage event on the 25th February to find out more about his sales philosophy, and what you can expect to gain from the session.
Sign up for Lars’ session here.
Most businesses make the same two mistakes that quietly undermine their sales growth.
“The first is when a business simply takes their best salesperson and promotes them to sales manager without any clear training or support,” Lars says. “The expectation often is: ‘You know the business, the clients, and the product. Over to you.’”
But leaving new sales leaders to figure things out alone inevitably creates roadblocks.
“That person is usually exceptional,” Lars explains. “But selling and sales leadership are completely different skills.” Without guidance, even high performers can struggle to lead, coach, and scale a team effectively.
Instead, he advises businesses to treat that promotion “almost like an external hire.” That means investing in leadership development, putting a clear sales framework in place, and defining what good sales leadership actually looks like.
The second mistake, Lars says, is far more widespread.
“Very rarely do we see a true structure in the sales system,” he explains. “Sales tends to be relationship-led, however, forget about the importance of building a clearly defined sales process.”
And, in many organisations, what’s called a “sales process” is actually just a reflection of their CRM.
High-performing sales organisations take a different approach. They start by understanding the stages their customers go through when making a purchasing decision.
“They define the buyer journey first,” Lars explains. “Then they map the sales process to that journey and train their teams accordingly.”
Without that alignment, sales activity becomes inconsistent and difficult to scale. With it, sales leaders gain clarity, predictability, and a framework their teams can actually execute.
In his Vistage event on 25th February, Lars wants leaders to leave with a practical lens on their entire sales operation, from recruitment and onboarding through to continuous development.
“Most CEOs don’t come from a sales function, therefore they have never really had an opportunity to look into what it takes to be a high-performing sales team,” he explains.
“My goal is to help CEOs understand what sales leaders should be doing to build a high-performing team.”
Lars will share four practical tools designed to help sales leaders lead, tools attendees can take straight back into their organisations and apply with their teams.
“Sales is a profession people should be proud of,” Lars concludes. “It’s the most valuable role for the customer. Because, when it’s done right, the customer wins.”
And when organisations embrace sales as a profession, not a personality trait, the impact reaches far beyond revenue. “That alone can transform an entire organisation.”Sign up for Lars’ session on February 25th here.
As small businesses enter the new year, the tone is measurably less optimistic than it was a year ago. However, confidence has steadily improved since November, driven by positive expectations for business growth.
The WSJ/Vistage Small Business CEO Confidence Index held at 94.1 in January, in line with 94.3 recorded in December and more than 8 points above the 12-month average of 86. Small businesses have adapted to uncertainty and recalibrated, capitalizing on the moderate growth forecasted for the year ahead.
Overall confidence of small business leaders is driven by positive expectations for their businesses in the year ahead; 67% expect increased revenues in the year ahead, and 56% expect increased profits. These forward-looking indicators have been stable over the last three months, suggesting a slight acceleration in demand.
As small businesses explore how to leverage generative AI, marketing often emerges as the starting ground.
Nearly a third of small business leaders indicated they took advantage of new avenues to reach customers. From new events to new technology, 30% of small business leaders report incremental marketing spend in 2025 to capitalize on these opportunities.
Looking ahead, 43% of small businesses plan to increase their marketing spend in 2026. Our analysis of open-ended responses about why budgets are increasing reveals three clear themes.
Many small business leaders cite growth ambitions — whether through gaining market share, increasing revenue, or scaling products — as the key reason for their increased marketing budgets in 2026. Chris Sutton, principal of Sutton Engineering in Plano, Texas, captures this sentiment simply: “Planning on growing and more than doubling this year.”
Marketing budgets are often increased to support new products, services, or market expansions as part of overall growth strategies. Investments are dedicated to launching new offerings (especially tech and AI), entering new geographies, or diversifying client segments. Despite economic headwinds, many remained committed to their expansion plans. As Ellie Puckett, CEO of Resonate Recordings in Louisville, Kentucky, explains, “We are in growth mode despite economic conditions.”
Small business leaders have also referenced either starting a formal marketing strategy or revamping their current one. The professionalization of marketing includes investments such as hiring agencies, targeting, and website refreshes. There is also a focus on building content pipelines, supported by the addition of tools such as AI and CRM.
CEOs cite that investment decisions were driven by new leadership, changing conditions, and post-pandemic shifts in the market and among customers.
Part of this professionalization starts with marketing companies that recognize the opportunities presented by AI and are leaders in bringing these capabilities to their customers,” says Kathryn Courtney, President/CEO of Mix Consulting, a Seattle-based marketing firm. Courtney says she recognized the need to become AI-savvy partners to their customers early, leveraging the tools to deliver more effective marketing solutions. “We recognized early on that our choice was to get ahead of it or to be behind it,” she adds.
Increased marketing budgets also represent a defensive move for small businesses, as they strive to stay relevant, counter sluggish demand, or capitalize on competitors exiting markets. The urgency is clear in responses like this from Jerry Green, President/CEO of Prestige Contracting in Poway, California: “Our backlog is shrinking, so we will need to increase our marketing budget.”
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The January 2026 WSJ/Vistage Small Business CEO Confidence Index was calculated from an online survey sent to CEOs and other key leaders who are active U.S. Vistage members. The survey, conducted between January 5-12, 2026, collected data from 335 respondents with annual revenues ranging from $1 million to $20 million. The Index is calculated based on favorable minus unfavorable responses from this set of standard questions, plus 100, anchored to June 2012 = 100.
To explore the full January 2025 WSJ/Vistage Small Business data set, visit our data center or download the infographic.
The February 2026 WSJ/Vistage Small Business CEO Confidence Index will be calculated from responses to the monthly WSJ/Vistage Small Business CEO survey, conducted from February 2-9, 2026, from Vistage member companies reporting $1-20 million in annual revenue.
Since the end of the pandemic, employers have been trying to balance productivity with employee satisfaction. It hasn’t gone well.
While up slightly in 2025, U.S. worker productivity has increased by a meager 1.8% since 2019. Meanwhile, according to Gallup, only 31% of U.S. workers are engaged in their workplace. Nearly 60 million Americans report suffering from some form of mental illness, and 50% say they are stressed at work.
The contributors to this problem are varied and many. The return to the office has been rocky. Employees are bombarded daily with email, social media, and a seemingly unlimited number of work obligations. Business owners face the added burden of managing an increasingly chaotic operating environment — everything from shifting economic variables like tariffs to growing compliance complexity to rapidly evolving technologies such as AI.
The result is that both managers and employees are experiencing burnout simultaneously.
Below, we offer a practical formula for maximizing profitability while creating a productive work environment where employees can thrive in 2026 and beyond.
Creating a clear vision and a focused set of strategic priorities is the glue that binds a management team and governs how work gets done. Many executives confuse having a list of quarterly “rocks” with having a strategy. But strategy is not a task list — it’s a theory of how you will win and what must change.
Companies must begin with a thoughtful analysis of their market, customers, and competitive position before they can define meaningful strategic priorities. Those priorities then govern quarterly work.
Managers should focus on capability-building — developing systems, processes, and technology that enable productivity at scale. They should not spend most of their time executing client work. When managers are stuck in execution, productivity stalls.
The work that needs to be done varies dramatically by role. One reason clarity around priorities matters is that it balances managerial workload. In particular, mid-level managers can get consumed by “piranha projects” — small initiatives that nibble away at time and energy without moving the business forward.
As a rule, managers should focus on no more than 3 to 4 major initiatives at a time. Studies reveal a correlation between the number of priorities a worker is asked to manage and their level of stress. In mid-market companies, complexity requires that work be managed through cross-functional teams rather than individuals operating in silos.
Good managers nurture employees and delegate effectively.
Want to get ahead of the curve? Watch Marc Emmer explore Business Trends for 2026 and Beyond in this on-demand webinar and blog series.
Organizations that scale build management systems that support decision-making and execution. This includes the right meeting cadence, clear reporting, and effective collaboration tools. A strong management system ensures that information flows quickly and decisions are made at the right level.
As companies evolve from small private concerns to thriving mid-market companies, they manage large, complex projects (such as acquisitions or ERP implementations) effectively. This means mastering project management and providing the resources to manage change. For smaller companies, there needs to be a Chief of Staff or similar role capable of project management. Companies grow to the point where they need a Project Management Office (PMO).
More than ever, management teams must embrace technology that drives productivity. While AI dominates headlines, adoption has been slower than expected. Tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT already add value by rewriting emails, drafting documents, and creating schedules. However, the real productivity leap will come from AI agents that execute work autonomously.
That said, companies don’t need to wait for full agent deployment. Work can be organized today into repeatable workflows and workstreams. Many processes — approvals, onboarding, reporting — can be automated even without advanced AI.
Internal communication is another overlooked lever. While many organizations have shifted away from email, some still heavily rely on it internally. Work threads in platforms like Teams or Slack are far more efficient and reduce unnecessary back-and-forth.
Accelerate your productivity and reshape your workforce. Download the report. Digital Engagement: A Predictor of Productivity.
It is estimated that knowledge workers spend 23% of their time looking for information.
Companies are using new tools, such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), to enable queries to find internal information. In the interim, members are using tools such as Notion to create knowledge bases to find the things they need, such as standard operating procedures. Organizing internal information can be a quick win to improve productivity.
Against this backdrop, leaders must rethink how they manage time. New approaches range from focus apps to four-day workweeks, all aimed at improving productivity while reducing stress.
Research on ultra-short workweeks suggests mixed results; compressing the same workload into fewer hours is often counter-productive. Simpler tactics may be more effective. Eliminating a day of meetings per week in favor of focused work has delivered measurable benefits for many organizations.
Ultimately, organizations must work smarter. That means using the right technology, building better systems, and being crystal clear about what work truly matters.
Here are practical time management hacks to consider:
It’s time to ensure your team is enabled for better productivity in 2026 and beyond.
After a year of pessimism and uncertainty, recent research conducted by Vistage and the Wall Street Journal reveals an increase in CEO optimism as we enter 2026. With this improving sentiment comes a variety of business opportunities, and the world’s best CEOs are striking while the iron is hot.
The following are 5 of the most significant business opportunities CEOs are seizing as we kick off a new year:
AI and its ability to improve productivity are the single greatest opportunities for small- to midsize-business leaders heading into 2026. This is one of the few areas where the largest companies don’t have a built-in advantage. Many artificial intelligence tools are available to all, making AI one of the greatest equalizers we’ve ever seen.
Most forward-thinking CEOs are asking, “How do we turn AI into something that is truly driving productivity and improving the customer experience?” Successful CEOs are now building processes that embed AI in how their teams work, rather than just experimenting with it on the side.
The leaders best positioned to pull ahead of their competitors in 2026 are the most disciplined about using AI strategically to innovate. They know exactly how AI is driving productivity, margin, and capacity.
Given the softness of the current labor market, talent is a major opportunity right now. As the unemployment rate ticks up, top leaders are “muscle-building” their talent bench to ensure they are positioned for long-term growth.
The best leaders are focused on creating a business where high performers feel proud and inspired to work. This requires making the company’s mission and impact crystal clear and showing employees how their work connects to something that matters.
One of the most overlooked business opportunities — particularly in a more competitive environment — is getting much closer to every single customer. In a rapidly changing business environment, the most successful CEOs understand what their customers want to fix, accomplish, or avoid. This level of closeness protects them from surprise defections, creates natural growth through the power of referrals, and validates new ideas by allowing business leaders to test whether their strategy will add meaningful value for their customers.
Several macrotrends are reshaping the landscape for small and midsize businesses. Effective CEOs have a pulse on how these trends are impacting their business, including:
Before executing on any of the above business opportunities, the best CEOs ensure they have the right strategy in place.
Rather than simply reacting, they are aligning opportunities to their business needs by outlining the long-term impacts, required investments and resources, and setting clear goals to measure success along the way. In goal setting, they create clarity about exactly what they are trying to cause to happen and how the new initiative will drive customer value.
Having clear milestones in place allows the team to accurately gauge success. Successful CEOs are also willing to walk away or pivot if the expected results don’t materialize. The discipline going into 2026 isn’t just starting the right things; it’s turning off the wrong ones fast.
Heading into 2026, the environment will continue to shift, from the impact of AI and innovation to changes in policy to the labor market and the economy. The CEOs who win will be the ones who take a strategic approach to using AI, invest in great people, get even closer to customers, stay ahead of macrotrends, and boldly shut down what isn’t working so they can double down on what is. Leaders who look at every challenge as a business opportunity will sharpen their competitive edge.
This story first appeared in Entrepreneur.
Nanette Miner’s epiphany sounded less like “a-ha” and more like “uh-oh.”
In 2015, while working with leaders at Fortune 500 companies, Miner heard a U.S. Census Bureau statistic predicting a mass exodus of Baby Boomers from the workforce by 2030. She looked around at her clients’ leadership training programs and realized they were all essentially filled with Boomers.
“I looked at the Millennials and thought, ‘You know, they’re our next set of leaders. And if the Boomers are going to be gone in 15 years, that’s really not enough time to teach somebody leadership concepts and capabilities,’” says Dr. Miner, Ed.D, Founder of The Training Doctor. “I realized these companies were not getting their future leaders ready. And if they weren’t doing it, nobody’s doing it.”
Frequent Vistage speakers Dr. Miner, Simon Vetter, author of “Leading with Vision,” and Chris Czarnik, author of “Winning the War for Talent,” say cultivating a strong leadership pipeline allows small and midsize businesses to keep striving upward. Here, these 3 thought leaders offer tips for small businesses to build the leadership pipeline today that will propel them to sustained success tomorrow.
Imagine creating a football team. You’ll need a whole roster of players committed to improving throughout the season. From that group, you’ll want to cultivate a starting lineup and identify a future team captain. That, in essence, is pipeline building — cultivating an engaged, motivated team that grows in individual and collaborative skills.
How do you know if you’re on the path to victory? Start with your HR data.
“If a business has too much turnover in early career employees, they won’t be able to develop a leadership pipeline because they won’t have enough people to tenure,” Dr. Miner says.
If you already have a committed team — congratulations! If not, Vetter suggests clearly communicating your company’s vision.
“Top teams are aligned around a common purpose,” he says. “Communicate where the company is heading, as well as what their roles and responsibilities are that contribute to that forward momentum.”
Czarnik views the pipeline as a set of stairs, with each step representing internal opportunities to learn and grow.
“Over the last 7 years, Millennials have changed companies every 3.4 years,” he says. “The caveat is that they didn’t really want to. When they stopped learning, they started leaving.”
Preparing a capable pool of leaders across various age groups for the long term requires instilling leadership behaviors early, not just when individuals are promoted.
“My mantra is ‘Leadership from day one,’” Dr. Miner says. “Why are we waiting until we promote someone to a leadership role, or waiting until they are 10 or 20+ years into their career before we develop their leadership capabilities?”
Adopting that mantra helps companies develop leaders at all levels, Czarnik says. Not every employee needs to be groomed to become the next CEO to keep teams engaged, invested, and growing within the company.
“Promotion is the end result,” he says. “Be a problem solver and a teacher inside the organization, and then promotions and advancement will be a natural end result of that.”
Bank of America recently elevated two long-standing executives to co-President, even though both blow out nearly the same number of candles on their birthday cakes as the current CEO, a 65-year-old who vowed to stay in his role for the next decade.
This, Dr. Miner says, is a cautionary tale about how not to build a leadership pipeline.
The short-sighted approach not only creates a conundrum for the executives involved, but it communicates to the entire organization that new ideas, new faces and new people are not valued. Applying this scenario to a small business, Dr. Miner asks CEOs to consider what distinguishes an “ideal” leader for their organization and to start cultivating the skills and capabilities in younger generations so they are ready when the time for advancement arrives. This allows a smaller company to keep its culture, values and goals “in-house” and reduces the risks associated with hiring a senior leader from outside the organization.
Looking to develop your leaders? Learn about Vistage Leadership Development Programs and how they can help you drive transformation within your organization.
Building a leadership pipeline is a lot like building a company. You identify the need and opportunity, assess your resources and execute.
How do you assess your resources? Czarnik’s approach involves pairing a new hire with someone who has been with the company for 18 to 36 months. This helps acclimate the new hire, while simultaneously giving the mentor an opportunity to grow.
“We’re not going to give you a 12-person team and a P&L to manage after 18 months,” he says. “First, we’re going to see if you can mentor one person through this dramatic and traumatic time of coming to work with a bunch of strangers.”
Dr. Miner likens some companies’ approach to leadership development to a game of whack-a-mole, with HR struggling to fill vacant positions rather than building the internal capabilities necessary for growth. With an 85-million-worker shortfall predicted by 2030 according to a Korn Ferry report, that’s simply too many moles to whack.
“The business world is changing so fast now that you really don’t want replacement leaders. You want somebody who’s got the next vision,” she says. “So, instead of interviewing leaders with questions like, ‘What was your budget and how many people did you manage,’ ask questions like ‘What do you think this company should be doing to prepare in the face of today’s changing political climate or the economic climate?’”
Through Vistage peer groups, small business leaders have been sharing best practices that have helped them think specifically about the question: “What do we need today, and what will we need tomorrow?” Czarnik says.
“That’s why we put Advancing Leaders into Vistage, because we’re actually trying to create subject matter experts on topics and improve their leadership,” he says.
To assess, use an assessment, right? Kinda.
Dr. Miner cautions against relying too heavily on annual performance reviews to suss out emerging leaders. Instead, she recommends looking at an even older assessment of an employee: the hiring interview. What was that spark that got them through the door in the first place? Did they exhibit a growth mindset, a thirst for learning and a desire to work collaboratively?
And how well has the company developed those qualities in that employee?
One of Dr. Miner’s Vistage group members shared a story about an employee who had been “phoning it in” until the day the company relocated to a new facility. Touring the new plant — with its new machinery and equipment — the employee lit up. He went home and looked up how everything worked, became engaged with the equipment’s placement and functionality, and showed up to work reinvigorated by the new potential the change created.
“He responded to the opportunity of learning something new,” she says. “You have to keep people engaged and growing so that they don’t want to leave.”
Need a tool to help you align your goals with your talent? Download the Vistage Leadership Development Guide and unleash your team’s full potential.
Czarnik recommends a two-for-one approach to employee development: Ask a junior or emerging team member to choose from a list of company-wide problems, then give that person the opportunity to become a subject-matter expert and advise on actionable solutions. Arm the subject matter expert with Coursera, LinkedIn Learning (whatever is needed and reasonable) and give them the time and space to drill deep.
“Not only does this approach solve the problems of the organization, but because the person chose the topic themselves, they really lean into it,” he says. “In seven years and 200 companies, I have yet to lose a subject matter expert to a recruiter.”
The second part of this approach? When the time comes to select a leader, the right candidate is an obvious choice.
“They will have earned it, and everyone will know it,” he says. “The only caveat here is that the company has to be committed to promoting from within instead of hiring from without.”
Vetter, Dr. Miner and Czarnik acknowledge that if it were easy to build a leadership pipeline, every CEO would already be doing it. By recognizing high-potential leaders early, providing developmental opportunities to close talent gaps, and measuring and cultivating leadership potential, small businesses can not only develop leaders but also become employers of choice in their industry.
Creating a culture that encourages visibility and career growth within a company helps senior management identify emerging leaders — turning the “invisible into the visible,” as Vetter describes it.
“Most leaders have tremendous pressure for short-term results, and they get overwhelmed with transactional projects, so they don’t dedicate enough time to vision-setting,” he says. “They underestimate the power of a vision, but when they are able to create that picture that people can get committed to, it unleashes energy and motivation.”
That motivation, in turn, surfaces people who are committed and want to rise to the challenge of making that vision a reality. “A result that you see with Vistage’s focus on long-term success is the cultivation of leaders who have the ability to pose questions about what’s next and what’s better,” Vetter says.
When in doubt, turn to the data. By developing clear benchmarks and criteria to evaluate leadership readiness, leaders can use data to reduce bias and improve decision-making throughout the pipeline.
The key, Czarnik says, is to devise benchmarks and metrics tailored to your own company’s needs. While talent management software and leadership analytics can help track progress and identify gaps more efficiently, Czarnik cautions leaders to use metrics that align with their company’s needs—not just those that come pre-installed in a talent management system.
“I’m a former military officer,” he says. “The 14 leadership traits we were trained on were bearing, courage, decisiveness, dependability, endurance, enthusiasm, initiative, integrity, judgment, justice, knowledge, loyalty, tact and unselfishness. Well, those were great 45 years ago. If I started my research by just saying, ‘I want to learn about leadership.’ I would be predisposed to only look in those areas, because that’s all I know.”
Vetter and his colleagues conducted a trend survey nearly 7 years ago, in which they asked employees of more than 400 companies to rank the most critical needs in leadership development. The answer? Creating a compelling vision and ensuring employees are emotionally connected to the vision.
“Creating a compelling vision was one of the most important leadership competencies, and it was also one of the most underdeveloped. Seven years later, I don’t think the gap has been reduced. In fact, it has widened,” Vetter says.
A lack of excitement affects how employees, particularly Millennials, show up. And it greatly impacts how often they leave. A Gallup poll found that a full 55% of Millennials reported feeling “unengaged” at work, with 21% switching jobs within the last year and 62% “open to a different opportunity.”
It’s difficult to help people up the corporate ladder if they’re constantly moving through the revolving door.
Dr. Miner overheard two young men talking at a wedding reception. Both were in their 20s, and one was raving about the company he worked for.
“He talked about the training he was getting, and about a five-year apprentice program that was going to give him all these skills and capabilities. The other young man said, ‘Oh, that sounds great. Could you refer me?’” she says. “And I thought, ‘That’s it right there.’ When your employees are your recruiters, you become the employer of choice.”
Dr. Miner credits Vistage peer groups with helping organizations create career development pathways for internal talent — the kind of strategic, tailored growth opportunities that can recruit and retain top talent today while nurturing their leadership capabilities. Providing ongoing support for high-potential leaders is crucial for small businesses competing in a shrinking talent pool.
“In a good company, the leader should be saying, ‘Well, what are you interested in? You know, I can help you learn that skill or move to that department,’” she says.
What happens to a small business when a visionary leader climbs their peak, huffs and puffs in the thin, rarified air, and realizes that they’re standing atop alone?
From this vantage point, it might look as though it is “all downhill from here” for the company that a leader worked so hard to build. But it doesn’t have to be. Developing a strong leadership pipeline ensures that no leader has to make the trek alone — and that companies can continue striving for greater heights for generations to come.
Laying that pipeline requires a radical shift in the way leaders think about how (and when) they identify emerging leaders. The process is about being open to identifying new ways of thinking, working, and growing talent from within.
If done well, a leader can reach their goal, realize their vision and confidently shout, “A-ha!” — instead of looking down from their lonely peak and shrieking, “Uh-oh!”
As confidence continues to build across the small- and midsize-business landscape, activity in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market is gaining new momentum in 2026. To help Vistage CEOs better understand what’s driving this shift — and what it means for your business — I sat down with Zane Tarence, Managing Director at Founders Advisors, for a deep dive into the key forces shaping today’s M&A environment.
Whether you’re planning to sell, acquire, or simply stay informed, here are five key drivers from our conversation to help you think more strategically about your future.
After a series of interest rate cuts in late 2025, borrowing costs are lower, making capital more accessible for buyers. Cheaper money leads to higher valuations because buyers can use more leverage and less equity.
Lower interest rates are reviving deal flow. Whether you’re planning to sell or acquire, now is a more favorable time to explore your options.
In recent years, a wide gap between seller expectations and buyer willingness has slowed down deals. Now, that gap is narrowing. Buyers are more confident and ready to deploy capital — but with discipline. Sellers are becoming more realistic in pricing.
Valuations are stabilizing, and buyers are re-engaging. Now is the time to ensure your business fundamentals — recurring revenue, clean financials, and strong leadership — are in order.
Public companies and larger strategic acquirers are aggressively pursuing acquisitions to accelerate growth. With organic growth harder to achieve, many are shifting focus to acquiring innovation, technology, or regional footholds.
Interestingly, strategic buyers are often less concerned with company size — if there’s a strong strategic fit, even small businesses are attractive.
If your company brings strategic value (IP, M&A market share, talent, or tech), it could be a target — regardless of revenue size.
Explore more from Founder Advisors: 12 Factors to Drive an Outsized Valuation. Available now on the Vistage Transaction Center (login required).
After sitting cautiously on the sidelines, private equity firms are re-entering the M&A market. Many are focused on buying “add-ons” for their existing platform companies, especially in fragmented industries. The result: There’s a surge in roll-up strategies targeting companies with $10–100M in revenue.
Know your positioning: Are you a potential add-on or a future platform? Either way, growth, scale, and predictability will boost your valuation and attract interest.
Cross-border M&A is rising. International buyers — including sovereign wealth funds — are seeking U.S.-based companies to strengthen supply chains, access innovation, and invest in stable, rule-of-law markets.
Don’t overlook inbound interest. Foreign buyers may bring competitive offers, particularly if your business aligns with global supply chain, technology, or infrastructure strategies.
With talent being a top decision, investment and challenge for CEOs in the year ahead, Zane emphasized the significance of talent in M & A, stating “Exceptional people create exceptional results.” Acquirers are buying talent just as much as product or market share. They’re also acquiring innovation; there is a trend of large companies reducing their Research & Development and instead buying proven solutions, technology and talent.
In previous years, seller expectations and buyer willingness were miles apart. That gap is shrinking. With valuations stabilizing and more flexible deal structures on the rise, 2026 may be the strongest year in a while for deal-making.
Now is the time for CEOs to prepare simply by building a healthy company. Build optionality by knowing your valuation, cleaning up your balance sheet, benchmarking your industry, and clarifying your desired outcome. Zane offered this practical guidance for CEO decision-making:
To provide securities-related services, certain principals of Founders Advisors, LLC are licensed with Founders M&A Advisory, LLC, a member of FINRA & SiPC. Founders M&A Advisory is a wholly owned subsidiary of Founders Advisors. Neither Founders Advisors nor Founders M&A Advisory provides investment advice.
Aspiring executive coaches often enter the field with two 2 goals: doing meaningful work and earning a stable income. But real earnings rarely match what certification programs promise. Many coaches discover that building a profitable practice takes years, not months, and there is a wide gap between top performers and everyone else.
Executive coaching is an unregulated industry. No single credential, program, or career path determines success. What you earn depends almost entirely on your model and the support behind it.
| Across the Industry, 3 Primary Paths Dominate: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Independent coaches | Corporate or internal coaches | Certification-based coaching programs |
Each offers a different level of stability, risk, and earning potential. Below, we’ll walk through each model honestly, including typical first-year earnings and long-term potential. Then we’ll compare that path with the income trajectory of a Vistage Chair, which blends entrepreneurship with the structure of a proven, global platform.
Independent coaching is attractive because it promises autonomy, but very few coaches enter the market with built-in demand or a predictable pipeline. The early years often require heavy prospecting, inconsistent revenue, and a focus on hourly billing instead of recurring income.
While Vistage Chairs are responsible for building their own groups, they do so within a structured model, established brand and proven frameworks that reduce volatility and support long-term, recurring relationships rather than one-off engagements.
Industry surveys and anecdotal reports from experienced coaches and corporate leaders paint a consistent picture:
Even highly talented coaches can find themselves spending more time on sales than on actual coaching. Independent coaches face three structural challenges:
Some executives transition into full-time coaching roles inside large companies, universities, or leadership development firms.
These roles offer a reliable salary and benefits with a clear job structure, but they come with a notable tradeoff: income caps are rigid, and the coach has less control over their schedule, clients, or long-term practice growth.
Most corporate coaching roles pay $75K to $120K annually. Senior-level roles or consulting firm positions may climb higher, but they rarely exceed the low 6 figures unless tied to profit sharing. For coaches who want stability above independence, this path makes sense. But for executives who value autonomy and schedule flexibility, the structure will feel restrictive.
Certification programs market the promise of becoming a “professional coach,” but they often oversell income expectations. They provide useful tools and structure, but certifications alone do not guarantee clients. Coaches who begin their journey through certification often return later for more reliable income streams, such as teaching, consulting, or affiliating with a system that already has brand credibility.
| Certification-Only Coaching Program Challenges | Why They Matter |
|---|---|
| No Built-in Client Demand | Graduates must generate all demand independently and compete with thousands of similarly certified coaches. |
| High Upfront Investment Before Revenue | Certification fees are paid before market demand or client traction is validated. |
| Wide Income Variability | Certification alone does not create recurring revenue or retention. |
| Market Saturation | Credentials are common and difficult to differentiate without brand leverage or a distinct platform. |
The Vistage Chair model is fundamentally different from traditional coaching paths. Rather than building a practice alone, Chairs join a global platform with 65+ years of credibility and built-in support.
Chairs operate as independent contractors, but within a powerful ecosystem that accelerates trust and helps them build groups faster.
| Advantage | How It Supports Income |
|---|---|
| Recurring Monthly Revenue | Stable, predictable compensation instead of hourly billing |
| Established Global Brand | Opens doors faster and reduces the time to sign your first member |
| Structured Development through Chair Academy | Teaches business development, facilitation and group growth |
| Back-end Support | Support for marketing and billing that most coaching systems lack |
| Long Group Tenure | Creates annuity-like stability year after year |
Traditional coaching requires constant client acquisition. Vistage Chairs, by contrast, build a model based on:
This structure greatly reduces revenue volatility.
Vistage CEO members stay an average of 5 years, which means a full group creates reliable recurring income. Once established, Chairs often expand with a second CEO group or Key Executive programs. You decide how much to grow based on the lifestyle you want.
The larger the practice, the greater the income potential. Chairs have the flexibility to scale in multiple directions.
Because groups tend to stay together for many years, Chairs enjoy long-term financial stability.
Clarity is why many executives choose Vistage over building solo coaching practices from scratch. Below is a simplified, transparent comparison based on publicly available industry standards.
| Coaching Path | First-Year Typical Income | Long-Term Income Potential | Income Stability | Business Development Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Executive Coach | Low to mid-5 figures | Mid 5 figures | Low | None |
| Corporate/Internal Coach | Mid to high 5 figures | Low 6 figures | Medium–High | Provided by employer |
| Certification-Based Coach | Low 5 figures | Highly variable | Low | None |
| Vistage Chair | Mid to high 5 figures | Mid to high 6 figures | High, recurring | Extensive infrastructure, brand power and training |
When executives weigh their next chapter, the differences between solo coaching and the Vistage Chair model become clear.
Chairs get Fortune 500-level tools, such as business valuations and strategic planning frameworks, plus development through Vistage’s proven Issue Processing model, and access to curated speakers with in-depth knowledge.
Chairs receive marketing support, build coaching, lead-generation campaigns, and a dedicated regional team.
The Chair community, with 1,400 members, functions as its own peer advisory group, offering collaboration and shared expertise.
You influence 12-18 CEOs at once, who in turn influence hundreds of employees, families, and communities.
A mature group takes about seven days per month. Even with multiple groups, most Chairs work around 40 hours a month, leaving time for board service, travel and family. And because Vistage peer groups are local, not much travel is involved.
Long group tenure and meaningful relationships make being a Chair a deeply fulfilling second career.
For former CEOs and senior executives seeking meaningful work and flexible schedules, the Chair role is one of the most compelling paths available.
If you’re ready for work that creates impact and delivers sustainable income, the Chair role may be your next step.
Learn what it takes to build your first group.