What is Vistage?
- Vistage is a world wide CEO, President, Business Owner, Key Direct Report Leadership organization that began in 1957 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From that first Group, it's grown to more than 24,000 Members in 20 countries. The model and Purpose has never changed: Increase the Effectiveness and Enhance the Lives of those in the Group! The "Model" includes 12 monthly meetings with 8 of the 12 meetings having nationally known Speakers that speak for four hours on almost any subject that can be thought of. Each presentation is recorded and made available to each Member so they can listen at their leisure and make the recording available to their employees, clients, partners and others where appropriate. The following agreements cover each Member/Group:
  - No competitors in the Room.
  - No Major suppliers or customers in the Room
  - All conversations or confidential...nothing leaves the room.
  - All conversations are Carefrontational.
  - The room is a safe place to talk about anything, both personal and professional.
  - All Members are willing to take off their masks and be Real.
  - All Members are willing to be challenged and challenge others.
  - All Members expect to be held accountable and hold others accountable.
  - All Members know that Membership is by invitation only.
  - The Group is not a Social club, Political organization or a Networking Group.
  - The Group is strictly a Leadership learning organization for highly motivated business Leaders!
  - Each monthly meeting, which begins at 8 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. is facilitated by a dedicated Vistage facilitator.
  - The trained facilitator spends confidential time with each Member in a 1-2-1 setting each month to talk about anything the Member wants to talk about.
    - Most Leaders have nobody to turn to for honest, straightforward advice with no hidden agenda? It's "lonely at the top" because Leaders many times don't want to talk with their Partners; Souses/Significant Others may have conflicting agendas, Friends want to be friends and challenging and talking with employees will scare them to death. What would it be like if you had other CEO's, Executives and Owners just like yourself to talk with in a confidential, expertly facilitated session? How would your business be impacted and personal life be improved?
How Much does Vistage Membership Cost?
- Vistage Peer Groups
  CEO Group- This group consists of CEOs, Presidents and Business Owners and those with bottom line responsibility of Divisions or subsidiaries:
  Members meet once each month for a full day. They heKar an expert speaker (8 per year) and help each other solve their most difficult and sensitive strategic issues. During the month, the Vistage Chair/facilitator meets with each Member in a 1-2-1 confidential session individually to talk about any subject the Member wants to discuss and finds it difficult to discuss with Partners, spouses/significant others, and/or friends.
  Cost:
  - $2,250 enrollment fee
  - Monthly fee of $1,416
  - Every 12-14months, each member hosts a meeting and is responsible for the food and meeting accommodations.
- Key Member Groups (those Members who report to the CEO and/or President or Division Manager)
  - $800 enrollment fee (no enrollment fee if the Key Member has a Leader in the CEO Group)
  - $749 monthly fee ($669 if the Key Member has a Leader in the CEO Group)
"My spiritual community keeps reminding me that all expectations are premeditated resentments. My tai chi sensei reminds me to expect nothing and be prepared for anything...Nikki Nemerouf, Vistage Speaker."
"I do not know what I think until I write it!"...George Bernard Shaw
"If there are no endings, there are no beginnings and you see no new lands, so for everything that's lost, there is usually something gained."...Merle Shain
"The problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place."...George Bernard Shaw
"The mind is owned by the self and can make a heaven out of hell or hell out of heaven"... Milton
What a wonderful life I've had! I only wish I'd realized it sooner...Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
The Core of Authenticity is the Courage to be Imperfect, Vulnerable, and to set Boundaries...Brene Brown
"The one who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been." -Albert Einstein
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
-Seneca
“No one-not rock stars, not professional athletes, not software billionaires, and not even geniuses-ever makes it alone.” - Malcolm Gladwell
Decide democratically, execute dictatorially...Peter Schutz
Risk:
- To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
- To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
- To explore feelings is to risk exposing our true self.
- To place your ideas, your dreams before the crowd is to risk loss.
- To love is to risk not being loved in return.
- To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair.
- To try at all is to risk failure.
- But to risk, we must, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
- The man, the woman who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.
- To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.

Managing Thoughts...Mary Lore