Peer Groups Help Leaders Embrace Rapid Pace of Change

There are two undeniable truths: opportunity is born from tragedy. Also, change is constant.

When COVID hit in 2020, and the world shifted to a new way of working, a few key players on the Goering Center team retired. There was so much love and respect for these folks that it was hard to work through the transition. Ultimately, it opened up the best professional opportunity I’ve had in my lifetime – leading our roundtable program.

Our mission at the Center is to “nurture and educate family and private businesses to drive a vibrant economy.” That “nurture” piece has a home in our roundtables – monthly meetings of like-minded peers coming together in mutual support of each other’s professional success, personal happiness, and, of course, the key to all of it – good physical and mental health.

Now two years into my new responsibilities, I can see that the potential in our roundtables to help people cope with change far exceeds the bar we once set for these small groups – helping people achieve “balance.”

• Our pace of change is at unprecedented levels.
• Boomers are gearing up to sell their businesses.
• Next generation leaders are taking charge.
• Business lifecycles are accelerating – with some saying reinvention is a must-do every three years.
• Today, nearly half – 40 percent – of US businesses are owned by women.
• Racial proportions are shifting our population to a minority majority.
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are now a strategic priority.
• Not to mention tech.

OK. Take a beat. Breathe.

So how does a small business owner cope with it all? Advisory boards help. Good planning helps. Fractional consultants can fill many gaps.

But none of those helpful gap fillers target the individual. None provide a psychologically safe, confidential place to open up and receive the kind of non-judgmental support that is abundant and available to people in our roundtable program.

I can’t think of a more important or meaningful way for me to contribute to Greater Cincinnati’s business community than to lead this important initiative.

Goering Center roundtables meet monthly, 10 times a year. Tables are carefully curated. Members have something significant in common – be it their status as CEOs or Owners, the people who report to CEOs, G2s, and our community’s “rising leaders” who are going to take us into the future.

New formats are also emerging. We are currently recruiting leaders who are standing up ESOPs, Visionaries and Integrators who are working on EOS, and, something especially dear to my heart, business owners who are anticipating retirement and are figuring out how to make an impact in the next chapter of their lives.

Join us at a quarterly “trial run” meeting so you can experience the benefit – and the people – that make the Goering Center such a special place.