Looking for a new challenge in 2022? Become a Vistage Chair

How are you feeling about 2022? Business leaders that we work with all have very different feelings about the new year. Excitement, worry, anticipation, stress - the prospect of 2022 brings with it both positive and negative sentiments. 

While looking to the future can be exciting for some business leaders, it can be daunting for others. COVID-19, of course, has had its part to play in some of the negative sentiment about the future. However, the stage you are at in your leadership career also has a significant role to play. 

Those who are coming to the end of their time in leadership in 2022 have some important decisions to make. What do you plan on doing next? 

For some, retirement is the ultimate goal. For others, the thought of doing nothing will hold no appeal. While you could take a non-exec role to keep you active, there’s an alternative that will not only benefit you, but the next generation of business leaders too. 

That alternative? Becoming a Vistage Chair. If you’re looking for a new challenge in 2022, read on to find out more...

What does the Vistage Chair role involve?

A Vistage Chair receives all of the resources and training that are needed to begin their own Vistage Chair Practice. As a Chair, you will be responsible for your own group of owners, managing directors and key executives of small and medium sized businesses. With the support of the Vistage team, you will grow this group from scratch, creating a support group of up to 16 members from non-competing industries.

Learn more about the Vistage Chair role

Every month you will bring your group together for a meeting. Here, members’ business issues can be discussed in an open and frank way, with confidentiality guaranteed.

Vistage Chairs also meet with their individual members once a month. In these meetings, you will provide tailored guidance and advice, helping your members to reach their full potential.

What’s in it for me?

Of course, one of the biggest benefits of becoming a Vistage Chair is the knowledge that you are helping the next generation of business leaders to grow and develop. However, there are many other reasons why our Chairs love what they do.

In these videos, Vistage Chairs Bob Battye and Marko Ilincic explain how the Chair role has enhanced their personal development. “I have become much more myself”, says Bob. “I’ve identified my weaknesses and worked on those. I’ve reinforced my strengths. I’m much happier and calmer, and deliver what I promise I’m going to deliver.”

Marko has relished the personal challenge of working with businesses of a variety of sizes. “Being able to apply the key principles that I’ve learned through my career and to support others at different stages in their business has been a real challenge - and one that I’ve relished and learned so much from.”

Coach, mentor, guide, confidant and inspiration. Our Vistage Chairs have numerous roles - learn more here.

The community element - and the ability to remain active in business - also appeal to our Chairs. Paul Pinson, Vistage Chair since 2010, says, “I felt lonely working as a one-man band after years in teams and was drawn to belonging to a community of like-minded people.”

Of course, the money is also a draw for some. We have Vistage Chairs bringing in a healthy six-figure sum each year. However, the financial side is not the main driver for many. As Paul Johnson, Vistage Chair since 2015, says, “It’s not about the money. I really feel this is my life’s work, and so many of this amazing Chair community will tell you we have the best job on the planet.”

One Vistage chair’s story

The best people to explain the benefits of the Chair role are our Chairs themselves.

After moving from a large corporate to become Chief Executive of the Covent Garden Market Authority, Jan Lloyd wanted to ensure she still had the opportunity for professional development. She joined Vistage as a member in 2006. Ten years later, when she stepped down from her corporate role, she became a Vistage Chair.

“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do”, she said. “It became obvious that working with people, finding out new things, and seeing people develop and facilitating that development was what floated my boat.”

One of the highlights of the role for Jan is seeing what a difference her group makes to its members. Of Vistage Chairs, she says, “It’s about the group and not them”. It’s about helping others to progress. Read some of the success stories from Jan’s group members here.

Others praise the diversity of the role. When Frank Esson took on a Vistage Chair role, he never expected to be attending a pre-work rave at the Ministry of Sound - but it happened. As well as the diversity of the role, he is impressed by the diversity in his fellow Chairs. “They’re an extraordinary bunch of people”, he says. “They’re all very different in age, in background, in approach to life and they’re all amazing people.”

The next step

If the Vistage Chair role sounds like the perfect next step for you, then fill out your details here and we’ll be in touch. In the meantime, you’ll find a wealth of information here that should answer any other question you may have.

The bar is high, but so are the rewards. Apply for a Vistage Chair role here.

With paying Vistage members needing the best possible guidance, we set the bar for Chair recruitment deliberately high. It’s crucial that we hire those who are the best fit for the role - for members to succeed, and for you to succeed.

Once on board, you will receive all of the training you need to start and run your own group. In the first year alone, Chairs receive 150 hours of training conducted by existing Vistage Chairs. When the group is up and running, you will also receive continued support from the Vistage team.

If you’re looking for excitement, fulfilment and a new challenge in 2022, get in touch. Your career as a leader may be coming to its natural end - but your time in business doesn’t have to.

Image:黒革の椅子By nao5970 via Adobe Stock