Outsell Leadership Community — Members Only
We have used Stern Strategy Group to source speakers from time to time and a week or so ago I received the wordle above with a note:
…. courtesy of the Fall 2023 Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey conducted in October 2023 — a survey of 104 CEOs across some 26 industries (predominantly in the US) ….. “the biggest challenge I face as a CEO today is.”
If a picture doesn’t say a thousand words, it at least has about 50 and these words resonate. Whether the topics we discuss day-in and day-out with our Outsell Leadership Community members, the research we analyze here, or agenda items for member meetings or the Outsell Signature Event the wordle sums up the ethos on the minds of our leaders.
In our own fall research focused on CEO Sentiment, (something we update each year) the topics are similar only the neighborhood is different. While this reflects CEOs in predominantly US industries, ours is reflective of leaders in b2b vertical tech, data and information services businesses and managing growth is frequently number 1. Disruptive tech — been responding to that since the CD-ROM and advent of the internet! Now Gen AI brings a new wave on the heels of social mobile, post search and post web before them.
Uncertainty (economic, political, or otherwise) — it’s a way of life; we don’t get a bye. It’s with us all the time like perpetual clouds and the threat of rain. And talent — so familiar.
They say for CEOs it’s lonely at the top. There are issues about which you can’t go to your board, your exec team, certainly not your investors (who are likely also on your board!) And spouses and partners and siblings are all well and good. But having a sounding board of peers is sometimes the best anecdote to the fear, uncertainty, and doubt of leading in an era of nothing but change. Validation is important. Someone offering another perspective equally so. Being challenged by someone who sits in the same seat comes with respect and understanding — empathy even.
And so, for the last 20 years leaders in our industry have joined the Outsell Leadership Community or OLC as we’ve come to call it (aka ‘the club) to have a sounding board, receive Outsell intelligence, and to get up in the morning knowing someone else out there has your back.
It’s a networking ground and a learning ground. We’ve seen and supported billions in exits, partnerships, growth strategies, and transitions — ceremonious and unceremonious — of thousands of leaders. To say by and for CEOs is an understatement. It’s a brain trust. Trusted data and analysis. SMEs at your disposal. A peer-group. A dedicated Executive Advisor whose been in your shoes. And most of all confidentiality, insurance, and assurance. Some CEOs negotiate us into their exit packages while others negotiate us into their employment offers. They take us with them.
Like the Mastercard Commercial — it’s priceless.
