How Leading with Empathy Can Boost Your Bottom Line

Leading with empathy means genuinely understanding your team’s perspectives and responding accordingly—and that practice consistently enhances productivity, retention, and innovation. When you choose understanding over oversight, your business doesn’t just perform…it thrives.

In this article, you’ll learn why empathetic leadership delivers financial results, how empathy impacts workplace dynamics, and what specific steps you can take to integrate empathy into leadership habits. You’ll leave with actionable guidance backed by real-world evidence—and even a bit of humor to show that caring isn’t weak. 

Go Deeper. 

How to Foster Inclusive Leadership Across Your Organization

If you’re looking to build a more unified, innovative, and high-performing team, inclusive leadership is the path forward. It’s not just about diversity numbers—it’s about how you lead people with different backgrounds, styles, and perspectives so they can do their best work. This article will walk you through key areas where inclusive leadership shows up in action—from recognizing your blind spots to making space for full participation. You’ll learn how to lead with empathy, share authority, build consistent systems, and create an environment where everyone contributes and feels respected.

Start with Self-Awareness Before You Lead Others

If you’re not examining your default decisions, you’re probably missing people. Inclusive leadership starts when you check your own assumptions. Who do you tend to trust more? Whose voice do you seek in a crunch? You need to ask these questions honestly. By doing so, you become more aware of how your own experiences shape what you notice and what you overlook. This is especially important during hiring, feedback sessions, or decision-making meetings—moments that shape a company’s culture in lasting ways. 

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Leading with AI: How CEOs Drive Growth & Innovation

 

If you're leading a company today, AI is no longer an optional experiment—it’s an essential part of how growth and innovation happen. You’re not just looking at technology investments; you’re steering your business through an era where smart use of AI can redefine operations, unlock new revenue streams, and strengthen your competitive edge. The challenge isn’t knowing whether to use AI—it’s knowing how to lead with it. In this article, you’ll see how effective CEOs set strategy, scale talent, and build structures that make AI work across the organization. These aren’t theories—they’re habits used by high-performing leaders who are already turning AI into action.

 

Define a Strategic AI Vision That Aligns with Your Growth Agenda 

 

When you lead with clarity, your team knows where to focus. AI doesn’t succeed in an organization where it lives on the sidelines or is treated as a tech project. You need to embed it directly into your growth strategy. That means identifying where AI will deliver measurable results—whether it’s improving customer experience, unlocking cost savings in the supply chain, or speeding up product development. 

 

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Leadership Best Practices - Jay Holstine CEO peer group discussion

Leadership Excellence – is the objective of Jay Holstine’s CEO peer group workshop Becoming a more effective leader was the emphasis of the Dallas CEO group chaired by Jay Holstine. “New research, insights and expert analyses of success factors were the center of discussion at our CEO workshop. Turnover is costly. You don’t want your company to be the 1 out of 3 companies having to replace a leader, and suffer shareholder market loss. It’s imperative to know the leader traits that create success and lead to the best performance in the CEO role,” said Jay Holstine. “Leading business and economic schools’ research reveal that the stereotype of the strong, confident, out-going, white, male candidate is not the best target, despite the historic trends of these inclinations. For one example, introverts are actually more likely to surpass hiring expectations. Education pedigree was another surprise: there was no correlation of an education from an elite school resulting in a superior performance: few of the actual top performers had ivy-league-educations, and some of the high-level performers did not even graduate from college,” Holstine mentioned. “The best news is that there are some valuable essential traits and success factors that boards can target in selecting the best leader,” Holstine added. Decisive - providing timely, concise decisions “You don’t always have all the information you need, in typical business decision-making scenarios, but high-performing CEOs still make decisions earlier, quicker, and with conviction,” Holstine shared. “One of our members said that the pursuit of the perfection often gets in the way of important action,” Holstine said. “The question to ask is if this waiting for new or remaining information outweighs the potential damage of delay. Basically, not making a decision is simply decision-by-default,” Holstine added. “While most decisions can be undone if necessary, lack of direction, and lack of confidence can weigh a company down,” Holstine said. “Interestingly, among leaders who were let go because of decision making, the vast majority of reason was for indecisiveness, rather than for making a bad call,” Holstine added. Managing conflict with adept confidence “Successful CEOs are not averse to conflict. They garner internal support by instilling confidence that they will lead the team to success, even if that entails contention. The avid leader understands that business is not without some disagreements, and they are comfortable dealing with conflict. They listen, and give those involved a voice, but not necessarily a vote. While consensus can good, it can turn into the lowest common denominator. Strong CEOs are not spending their time counting votes and worrying about being popular. Getting everyone on board: Skilled and Intuitive communicators are able to engage stakeholders. “One of the most critical skills is getting everyone on board. Our CEO group agreed that strong performers have an intuition for the priorities and needs of their stakeholders, as well as the needs of potential detractors,” Holstine said. “They address those concerns, and illustrate the value of the program, so that they can bring potential detractors back into the project. The best leaders are able to win over detractors by highlighting their importance to the process,” Holstine shared. Non-verbal Communication: “The best leaders monitor and finetune their demeanor and body language. They are aware of the unintended communication of expressions, posture, or gestures that might contradict their intentions. They understand that calm composure is essential in good leadership,” Holstine said. Open and adaptable “Pragmatism is critical to success. Our CEO membership knows that business environments can change on a dime,” Holstine said. “Everyone agreed that looking out for the unforeseen challenges, is critical to success,” Holstine said. “Adapting quickly to new challenges is also important. We found that the best CEOs are always seeking out fresh information from a variety of networks and different sources. They are looking for trends and signs of potential change, in order to take advantage of new opportunities,” Holstine shared. Always Learning and Growing “Our group acknowledges that temporary setbacks are a part of changing course. High performers see missteps as opportunities to learn and grow. It’s not failure if you realize a setback as part of growth and learning, and adjust your approach to accomplish it next time,” Holstine said. Consistent Delivery of Results “Adaptability and growth are key factors of success, but research and our members agree that boards want a CEO who knows how to run a business well. The proven, predictable performer, delivering steady results, with reliable follow-through, is more valuable to the company’s long term viability than a rockstar leader with some exciting ideas and erratic actions,” Holstine said. Organizational Excellence “Great leaders also thrive on organization, strategic planning, and team building. Successful new CEOs set realistic expectations by digesting plans, budgets, and understanding markets and customers and employees. Upgrading talent and getting the right team in place quickly is critical to a new CEO’s success,” Holstine added. “Our workshop concluded with the concept that leadership success is not based on inborn traits or high pedigrees of education. The most successful CEOs are those who are more versatile, diverse, open-minded, growth oriented, and confident. They are smart communicators, and very adept at engaging stakeholders and winning over detractors. They know how to handle conflict. They’re decisive, they know how to run a company, and they enjoy leading,” Holstine said.

Michael Allosso brings improve to Jay Holstine's CEO peer group

Rather than offering a "band-aid" checklist for making an individual speak better, Allosso offers concrete suggestions and exercises designed to modify behavior and help the participant always be "you on your best day." Key issues include: appropriateness and method for demonstrating passion and energy generating enthusiasm, clarity, and persuasiveness while staying true to self charisma - can it be learned? team-leading and building the power of the spoken word and when not to speak tone of voice and body movement relaxation and concentration speed, agility, risk-taking, thinking "outside the box" Participants will be on their feet speaking and doing various exercises including those done by actors, re-structured to maximize relevance in the business world. All will receive immediate feedback so, by the end of the presentation, they will have a new set of tools to make each meeting, planned or spontaneous, with a group or one-on-one, more successful. Morale-boosting and team-building for heightened productivity will be emphasized. Participants will give each other feedback and, in turn, will receive feedback from Allosso regarding their style/delivery/tone. VISTAGE WORLDWIDE CHAIR, CEO PEER GROUP ADVISOR JAY HOLSTINE Building and empowering a high-achieving CEO Peer group that produces more effective leaders is Jay Holstine’s passion. Jay manages the CEO Peer group issue resolution sessions that surface root causes, pooled perspectives and shared wisdom. Jay Holstine currently serves as chair and CEO peer group advisor at Vistage Worldwide in Dallas, Texas. The CEO Peer group contains approximately 18 members from non-competing businesses that support each other to become better leaders. In addition to chairing the group’s monthly meetings, Jay provides each member with one-to-one sessions to discuss issues, opportunities and business strategy.

Inclusion Improves Productivity and Job Satisfaction - Jay Holstine workshop

Inclusion builds success -- Workplace culture was the topic of Jay Holstine’s CEO peer group discussion, as members shared their insights in creating an atmosphere of inclusion. “Navigating the pandemic’s effects on the workplace has been a major leadership challenge,” Holstine noted. “While each of our CEOs have a unique workforce, office structure, and specific interaction with the marketplace and larger supply chain, there are many common challenges and insights to share at our meetings,” Holstine said. “The evolving communications technologies were prominent topics at our most recent discussion, as well as new recruiting resources, meeting practices, and employee engagement and retention in a new landscape,” Holstine added. “One CEO member shared advice and resource options on bringing workers safely back to the physical offices, along with valuable tips and lessons learned,” Holstine mentioned. Helping business leaders navigate the pandemic’s effects on the workplace has been a major focus of Jay Holstine’s Dallas-based CEO peer group. Eighteen leaders from non-competing industries, gather regularly to hear expert speakers, share ideas and strategize with each other. A new work culture and climate “Leaders are more aware of a wider variety of societal issues that influence employee effectiveness, teamwork and retention,” Holstine said. “Strategies to improve employee inclusion, and work-life balance are more important now. Our industry experts are providing new data, resulting in lively discussions among our group,” Holstine added. “CEO members discussed ways to advance collaboration, emphasizing the right resources and support to enhance engagement and efficiency,” Holstine noted. “The way in which employee support is provided has shifted, and continues to evolve, just as we are communicating and supporting our customers in more updated and advanced ways,” Holstine said. Don’t over-engage “One of our members pointed out that the new hybrid workplace can sometimes produce a hyper-connectivity that leads to burnout,” Holstine said. “For many employees, the workplace has encroached into the home, the car, and sometimes all hours of life,” Holstine said. “Fine-tuning the right pace, and the right level of inclusion, (such as the number of teams employees are part of, and the size of each team,) is important to maintaining a successful mix of collaboration, individual productivity, and good work-life balance,” Holstine noted. “Another member shared an important point about the hybrid work environment: Be aware that ‘Access’ should not be the critical determinant in acquiring roles and responsibilities. Leaders will get better long term results from reviewing all potential candidates to assess who brings the right mix of skills and experience to the role under consideration, as opposed to who currently has more access the opportunity,” Holstine shared. “While discussing vital developments in work culture and identifying the best practices, is what we focused on in this workshop, in every meeting, our CEOs depend on the shared wisdom, expert research, practical experience and ideas, that help their companies succeed,” Holstine shared.

Members loved the meeting with Gair Maxwell

Our Vistage got so much value from Gair Maxwell's presentation. In addition Gair stayed and had dinner with several of the members to share additional insights and have a conversation that was enjoyed by all. VISTAGE WORLDWIDE CHAIR, CEO PEER GROUP ADVISOR JAY HOLSTINE Building and empowering a high-achieving CEO Peer group that produces more effective leaders is Jay Holstine’s passion. Jay manages the CEO Peer group issue resolution sessions that surface root causes, pooled perspectives and shared wisdom. Jay Holstine currently serves as chair and CEO peer group advisor at Vistage Worldwide in Dallas, Texas. The CEO Peer group contains approximately 18 members from non-competing businesses that support each other to become better leaders. In addition to chairing the group’s monthly meetings, Jay provides each member with one-to-one sessions to discuss issues, opportunities and business strategy.

Best Practices to Maximize Employee Engagement - Jay Holstine Workshop

Excelling in the 2022 workplace Jay Holstine’s CEO peer group shared their insights and solutions in helping their teams thrive from transitioning from work-from-home / hybrid to return-to-office. “Navigating the pandemic’s effects on the workplace has been a major leadership challenge,” Holstine noted. “While each of our CEOs have a unique workforce and office structure, there are many common challenges and insights to share at our meetings,” Holstine said. “We’ve been discussing communications technologies, recruiting resources, employee engagement, and retention best practices,” Holstine added. “One CEO member shared advice and resource options on bringing workers safely back to the physical offices, along with valuable tips and lessons learned,” Holstine mentioned. Helping business leaders navigate the pandemic’s effects on the workplace has been a major focus of Jay Holstine’s Dallas-based CEO peer group. Eighteen leaders from non-competing industries, gather regularly to hear expert speakers, share ideas, and strategize with each other. A new work culture and climate “Leaders are more aware of a wider variety of societal issues that influence employee effectiveness, teamwork and retention,” Holstine said. “Strategies to improve employee inclusion, and work-life balance are more important now. Our industry experts are providing new data, resulting in lively discussions among our group,” Holstine added. “CEO members discussed ways to advance collaboration and identifying the right resources to enhance engagement and efficiency,” Holstine noted. “The way in which employee support is provided has shifted, and continues to evolve, just as our communications and support of our customers has needed to advance,” Holstine said. Don’t over-engage “One of our members pointed out that the new hybrid workplace can sometimes produce a hyper-connectivity that leads to burnout,” Holstine said. “For many employees, the workplace has encroached into the home, the car, and sometimes all hours of life,” Holstine said. “Fine-tuning the right pace, and the right level of inclusion, (such as the number of teams employees are part of, and the size of each team,) is important to maintaining a successful mix of collaboration, individual productivity, and good work-life balance,” Holstine noted. Capability and performance should be more important than access to management “Another member shared an important point about the hybrid work environment: Be aware that ‘Access’ should not be the critical determinant in acquiring roles and responsibilities. Leaders will get better long-term results from reviewing all potential candidates, to assess who brings the right mix of skills and experience to the role under consideration, as opposed to who currently has more access to the opportunity,” Holstine shared. “While discussing vital developments in work culture, and identifying the best practices is what we focused on in this workshop, in every meeting our CEOs depend on the shared wisdom, expert research, practical experience and ideas, that help their companies succeed,” Holstine shared. https://linktr.ee/JayHolstine https://www.trepup.com/jayholstine https://jayholstine.mystrikingly.com/ https://jayholstine.blogspot.com/ https://issuu.com/jayholstine https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjTeShFghKG4pflFdjfBFyg/featured https://vimeo.com/jayholstine https://www.xing.com/profile/Jay_Holstine3/portfolio

Gair Maxwell speaks May 18th with Jay Holstine's group about Big Little Legends

Big Little Legends - How Everyday Leaders Build Irresistible Brands Endlessly curious about the origin of legends and myths, Gair Maxwell is a global authority in helping organizations create iconic, “larger-than-life” brands that attract legions of customers and top talent – without having to resort to using any “pushy” marketing tactics. The trickle-down impact on any company, community or career can be enormous. Some organizations have achieved 15-20X financial growth while becoming a coveted, desirable “Category of One”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTbar693st4&t=1s Join internationally recognized author and speaker Gair Maxwell for an inspiring and controversial deeper dive into timeless and universal principles that create BIG LITTLE LEGENDS. You will see with uncommon clarity the invisible forces that entice millions of visitors to take selfies before a single painting at the Louvre in Paris are astonishingly similar to what inspires more than 4,000 people to queue each day at a Las Vegas pawn shop, swarm a New Orleans coffee shop or flock to a Seattle fish market. Exploring how legends are created in the first place, Gair reveals how anyone in any business or non-profit category, can create a brand reputation that makes them so top-of-mind iconic, they become the equivalent to being the “Apple”, “Disney” or “NIKE” of their competitive space. BIG LITTLE LEGENDS challenges conventional marketing truisms and rejects short-sighted, decades-old “spray and pray” practices aimed at short-term results. This program dares to venture on a different path and challenge leaders on key issues such as their Brand Voice and how much it’s actually being heard in a noisy, competitive market. Leaders will also be forced to confront the brutal facts about the relevance and effectiveness of the vehicles currently used to communicate their Brand Story and whether they are thinking far enough forward with their overall business and brand strategy to create Long-Term Impact in a short-term world. JAY HOLSTINE LAUNCHES CHIEF EXECUTIVE GROUP FOR DALLAS/ PLANO, TEXAS Jay Holstine chairs a Vistage CEO peer group with 20 members. The group brings together CEOs from non-competing businesses, to share perspectives, learn from industry leaders, and gain strategic insights, to bring their leadership to new levels. Mr. Holstine’s group helps Dallas businesses accelerate their growth. Vistage is the largest network of CEOs and business owners globally, with over 30,000 members in more than 20 countries across the world. These peers come together every month for confidential meetings where they share insights on leadership and strategies to optimize personal and business performance.

Leveraging Digital Marketing and Sales - Vistage Research

As new competitive realities emerged during the pandemic, many companies embraced digital transformation. Most adopted tools such as Teams, digital payments and marketing automation to improve productivity. However, digital transformation can’t be viewed in an incremental, linear fashion. Siebel founder Thomas Siebel refers to digital transformation — the confluence of cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and the internet of things (IoT) — as a “mass extinction event.” Entire industries and businesses will either adopt these technologies, or be eliminated. By reaching critical mass, the interconnectivity of billions of devices will drive the value created through big data and advanced analytics. The bridge we must cross is from levering technology to improve service or reduce cost, to utilizing digital transformation to redefine our core product in a way that creates new demand and drives enterprise value. Consider the case of an orange farmer. His core product has been found in nature for thousands of years and is a commodity. What if the seeds he uses to grow oranges could be selected for ultimate flavor and yield by AI, planted and picked by autonomous vehicles, harvested at the ideal time based on moisture, heat, sunlight detected by IoT sensors, and sold at the highest market price based on advanced analytics? While the product may be ostensibly the same, the grower would be far more competitive and profitable, and would deliver a superior product using tools that are already commercially available today. We must leverage these tools now, or face the consequences. Here are 4 ways digital transformation is taking form: Start fostering success today with the CEO’s Blueprint for World-Class Leadership. Get the Guide 1. Cloud computing is a shared pool of configurable hardware.i In recent years, cloud solutions have become more “virtualized,” enabling greater hardware efficiency. As a result, leading providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) have been successful in compartmentalizing their solutions in the form of hybrid clouds (a combination of on-premise infrastructure and public cloud), which offer greater security, agility and speed. Cloud computing costs have dropped over 60% in the last two years. While cloud computing is the host of digital transformation, our understanding of it is only scratching the surface. Metcalfe’s Law dictates that the power of any network is the square of the devices sitting upon it. That is, as IoT devices and networks are combined with other networks, they become infinitely more powerful. For example, the integration of CRM and ERP systems make each of them much more valuable. When Facebook started at Harvard, its value was contained, but when it spread to other schools (network effects), its power was unleashed. 2. Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines.ii Artificial intelligence (AI) will either amplify America’s standing as an economic superpower, or it will allow China to propel ahead of us. As pseudo-government controlled companies operate there, Chinese companies could gain a foothold on AI technologies. Siebel points to the following commercial use cases of AI: Financial services: Fraud detection, credit analysis and scoring, loan application review and processing Healthcare and medicine: Medical image diagnosis, automated drug discovery, disease prediction, genome-specific medical protocols, preventative medicine Manufacturing: 3D customization, inventory optimization, predictive maintenance, quality assurance Oil and gas: Predictive oilfield and well production, well production optimization Public safety: Threat detection Military: Predictive maintenance to improve readiness and streamline operations, logistics optimization, inventory optimization and recruiting. AI has proven remarkably useful in improving predictive maintenance for the U.S. Air Force and improving aircraft readiness. Chart Artificial intelligence projected revenue Source: Tractica Research Machine learning is a subset of artificial intelligence. Machines learn from examples and experience, which are different from hard-coded rules typically found in AI. Machine learning will predict future results instead of just reporting them. 3. Big data is comprised of complexly structured and unstructured data sets that are rapidly generated and transmitted from a wide variety of sources.iii Big data represents the intersection of volume, velocity and variety from both internal and external (extraprise) data sources. For example, our firm did strategy work with a Vistage member who loaded Walmart scan data and Best Buy movement information into their Microsoft Power BI data visualization solution, which augmented their internal data. Their system provided real-time analytics that allow them to predict future events and manage their supply chain with greater precision. This technology is neither expensive nor hard to implement. In our consulting practice, we see a sea change underway, where members are not satisfied with the reporting of static data, they want to convert that data into actionable insights. 4. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the sensoring of the entire value chain though remote access.iv IoT is being framed by the entry of high-volume, low-cost chips. By 2030, it is estimated there will be a staggering 75 billion IoT devices deployed worldwide. Chart Growth of IoT Devices Source: MDPI IoT will provide the greatest value to industries with high asset costs. 50% of IoT investment is projected to be made in manufacturing, transportation/logistics, and utilities. Deep learning will provide richer analysis than previously possible. 5G cellular networking will enable a new generation of IoT devices such as smart grids, smart cities and autonomous vehicles. The combination of these solutions will make us safer, increase accuracy, and save on labor costs and administration. Where do you start? Providers should map their entire value chain and look for opportunities to deploy digital transformation strategies. Below are examples of value chain elements that could be deployed for a manufacturing business: Suppliers: Inventory optimization, supply network optimization Manufacturing: Predictive maintenance, quality assurance, 3D manufacturing, safety Customer: Customer service (chatbots), customer insights and analytics, warranty optimization Distributor: Inventory management, price optimization, quote optimization Logistics: Demand planning and forecasting As noted, our observation is that private companies are acting more like observers of change. Clearly, larger public companies are better equipped to invest in expensive technologies such as AI. Yet, there are many emerging providers offering software-as-a-service, platforms as a service, infrastructure as a service and artificial intelligence as a service. Renting software also eliminates the need for costly cap-ex investment. As digital transformation technologies become more accessible to private companies, it is incumbent upon us to be prepared to take advantage of them. References i Digital Transformation by Thomas Siebel ii TechTarget iii What is Big Data? How Does it Work? [Built In] iv Digital Transformation by Thomas Siebel

Michael Allosso will be speaking with Jay Holstine's CEO group on March 23rd

Interesting Michael Allosso videos: https://www.michaelallosso.com/35secretweapons.html In a presentation that highlights active, hands-on participation, Michael Allosso compares the preparation, performance, and role of an actor with that of the corporate executive. Through their participation, business people reach a more vital and dynamic awareness of the excellence needed not only for presentations, but also in the communications in every moment of every day. Rather than offering a "band-aid" checklist for making an individual speak better, Allosso offers concrete suggestions and exercises designed to modify behavior and help the participant always be "you on your best day." Key issues include: appropriateness and method for demonstrating passion and energy generating enthusiasm, clarity, and persuasiveness while staying true to self charisma - can it be learned? team-leading and building the power of the spoken word and when not to speak tone of voice and body movement relaxation and concentration speed, agility, risk-taking, thinking "outside the box" Participants will be on their feet speaking and doing various exercises including those done by actors, re-structured to maximize relevance in the business world. All will receive immediate feedback so, by the end of the presentation, they will have a new set of tools to make each meeting, planned or spontaneous, with a group or one-on-one, more successful. Morale-boosting and team-building for heightened productivity will be emphasized. Participants will give each other feedback and, in turn, will receive feedback from Allosso regarding their style/delivery/tone. EXPERIENCED CEO, COACH, AND MENTOR, JAY HOLSTINE An accomplished business leader, Jay Holstine serves as a Vistage Chair and CEO Peer Group advisor in Dallas, Texas. As a growth-oriented CEO, Jay brings pragmatic methods and incisive analysis to help CEOs improve their work-life balance, and transition from working-in-the business ,to working-on-the-business more effectively. A deep experience in operations, along with a foundation in consulting, and years of growing companies, is what enables Jay to coach management teams on successful business scaling. Jay wanted to build a Legacy of amazing people that can positively Impact our communities. An executive peer group is high performing, not an empty seat in the room, high trust in the room, where everyone pulls together with pooled perspectives and shared wisdom to help each other become better leaders, and more successful!

Grow leadership using Analytics instead of Instincts: Jay Holstine

“Vistage CEO group workshops are especially vital to new leaders, “ Jay Holstine said, in sharing how his Dallas-based CEO peer group helps business leaders capitalize on change, and attain new levels of productivity. “Whether it’s building the right team, identifying the best finance strategies, or the right markets in which to expand, the interplay of smart ideas is vital to finding solutions that fit each CEO’s company,” Holstine added. “Our CEOs depend on market experts, as well as the group’s shared wisdom, practical experience, and ideas, to help identify new ways teams and companies can work more successfully,” Jay Holstine shared. “The group’s discussions are continually enriched with speakers from various disciplines, along with new research, and the group’s sharing of their own challenges and experiences,” Holstine added. “While some of our CEO members have been in this role for more than four years, a good portion are within their first four years as CEO,” Holstine said. The consensus is that, coming into the role, it’s important to learn what’s working well, as opposed to bringing in a wholesale new slate of changes” “While a recent workshop focused on understanding the various facets of the company, from markets, customers, partners, human resources, and how they work together as a whole, it’s also important to prioritize your focus, avoid micromanaging or doing the things you should be delegating” Holstine said. “Having the right people in the right roles makes all the difference. It’s vital to find the best uses for your top talents to help boost their productivity, their value within the staff and ultimately, the company’s efficiency. Several members of our group us Culture Index to measure seven work-related traits inherent in all people to make executives effective. The seven traits are: Autonomy, Social-Ability, Patience, Conformity, Energy Units, Logic, and Ingenuity. One CEO offered, that it’s part of the natural course of business for areas of the company to fluctuate with changes in the market, have successes and failures, learn, regroup, and rebuild. It’s important to expect some turbulence, balance the emotions and work productively on solutions. The group agreed that serving as an executive is about providing confidence and stability through the challenges. Guard yourself from reacting too erratically, or quickly. Keep the long-term perspective for the best viability of the business. “Good leadership is more about optimizing your team, not just managing their production. If your team knows you have confidence in the plan, and you faith in the team, their performance and productivity will rise to this occasion,” Holstine shared. “Our Vistage CEO peer group is aiding in the inspiration of these leaders in workshops, and in the established rapport between meetings. We know that a vital part of leadership is not just growing the skills of your staff, but also continuing to develop your own capabilities,” Holstine said.

Jay Holstine video discussing the value of the EOS Accountability Chart

The EOS Accountability Chart enables organizations to first determine the needed structure and then add people to the desired structure. EXPERIENCED CEO, COACH, AND MENTOR, JAY HOLSTINE An accomplished business leader, Jay Holstine serves as a Vistage Chair and CEO Peer Group advisor in Dallas, Texas. As a growth-oriented CEO, Jay brings pragmatic methods and incisive analysis to help CEOs improve their work-life balance, and transition from working-in-the business ,to working-on-the-business more effectively. A deep experience in operations, along with a foundation in consulting, and years of growing companies, is what enables Jay to coach management teams on successful business scaling. Jay wanted to build a Legacy of amazing people that can positively Impact our communities. An executive peer group is high performing, not an empty seat in the room, high trust in the room, where everyone pulls together with pooled perspectives and shared wisdom to help each other become better leaders, and more successful! Previous in his career, Jay Holstine was an operations consultant for Accenture and Deloitte, plant manager for Taylor Environmental Instruments, Managing Director for Compass Advisory Consultants, President and CEO of SigmaFlow, and President and CEO of Freightflow.

Post pandemic leadership - Jay Holstine

In our post-pandemic business landscape, leaders are meeting a variety of new challenges, and targeting new opportunities for growth. One of the most effective ways for leaders to strategize and troubleshoot is from sharing experiences and discussing new data in a confidential group of fellow business leaders. Jay Holstine’s Dallas-based Vistage group is comprised of 16 CEOs, from non-competing companies, who are committed to bringing their businesses and their leadership skills to new levels of productivity. “The understanding that these members now have of each others’ business concerns and goals really enriches the discussion,” Holstine said. “From redefining the role of technology in their companies, or sharing updated strategies to build profitability in a new economy, the interplay of ideas is crucial to finding solutions that fit each CEO’s company,” Holstine noted. “Our Vistage CEO group is sharing research and practical experience, as they respond to each others’ challenges and identify ways to help teams and companies work more successfully,” Holstine said “In our most recent workshop, several CEOs shared goals and strategies in pinpointing new areas of growth, acquiring and retaining the best talent, and improving project delivery. Some of the highlights included: GROWTH: The disruptions of the last two years have led to unexpected growths in some businesses and reductions in others. With this vast reorganization comes opportunities on myriad levels and aspects. Every business is positioned with a unique disposition toward growth. While high growth targets increase a company’s profile, profitability and future opportunities, it also often presses new challenges into almost every area of the operations. One CEO shared that, in times of growth of 25% per year, when the company’s core group of leaders is tasked with delivering more, while training new professionals, it can often be an additional brick in the wheelbarrow, and that more activity and higher revenue do not always produce more cash flow. However, when growth is managed well, it provides revenue along with market visibility, leadership, and the acknowledgement of success. This helps attract and retain top talent. Strong CEOs encourage a company-wide commitment to long-term success and tells a compelling story for future customers and prospective employees. The CEOs agreed that in the ideal, growth-oriented firm, every department is seeking aspects to improve, asking how areas of product delivery, communications, business development, can be done more effectively. Leadership in these companies prioritizes customer satisfaction, and supports workforce internal development and support, as they identify the most productive paths for improvement —and estimate its implications to the business. And ideally, these strong CEOs know the competitive landscape and are looking for opportunities to provide innovative and compelling new solutions to their market. STRONG FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT Skilled, practical and experienced financial management ensures business stability. Now, as ever, strong, solid, sustainable growth for a business relies on a strong financial base. Likewise, today’s leadership needs confidence in the firm’s financial position to make decisions about pursuing bigger opportunities and expanding capacity. The growth-oriented firm empowers its financial management team by incorporating high-level people who have significant experience with their industry’s business model, and gives them access to timely and reliable information about both individual project status and the business as a whole. With new developments in transportation, workforce activity, and materials, leaders are realigning methods of project delivery. Leaders are making sure that their project teams have the right tools for success. They are asking their teams to redefine the drivers for success, and determine what aspects of the project plan should be updated. From setting the right scope, assigning resources, setting milestones and delivering the final product. Define, document, deliver and repeat. KEEPING THE PLAYERS MOTIVATED “People are inspired to dedication by being a strong part of an important team. A compelling goal focuses a team on success. Behavior is most likely to adapt when changes are a matter of survival. Necessity of project success is one of the most effective ways to build trust and involvement. A successful team is focused on a purpose, with an organized timeline and set of responsibilities, deliverables and rewards. This emphasizes the value of the team’s success and its importance to the company. After a lot of shared strategies based on experience and research, the group agreed that it is critical to keep all the parts of their team on the same page and working smart,” Holstine noted. “These types of concerns are one of the areas of leadership that this group regularly confers on,” Holstine said. The Vistage CEO peer group enables a shared wisdom based on experience so that trusted leaders, from non-competing industries, can continue to grow their teams’ skills and capabilities,” Holstine said.

What changes are you making so that your company thrives in 2022?

“In just the first few months of the pandemic, the ways in which we work, and purchase goods, rocketed through decades of evolution. Trends in technology and supply chain were accelerated, with effects that changed our economy significantly,” Jay Holstine said. “Our Vistage research analyzes the economy’s quarterly growth, and the effects of supply chain challenges, talent shortages and inflation. This fuels out workshops where our CEOs and key executives are solving critical challenges in a confidential, supportive group.” “The global supply chain is recovering from a fundamental disruption and significant acceleration. Our group is discussing how to move beyond simply adjusting to vast business disruptions, to really thriving in this new landscape,” Jay Holstine added. “Our discussions on innovation, workforce technology, and economic trends, are enriched by 16 different leadership perspectives, on top of a lot of solid research, and expert speakers,” Jay Holstine said, “Today’s CEOs are navigating these effects as they deal with rising costs from suppliers. Most midsized and small businesses are encountering the higher costs of raw materials, computer chips and the like, at the same time they are dealing with a shortage of labor, and changed expectations from customers, as well as their own workforces. “Most CEOs agree that the corporate workplace catapulted through a few generations of change in the last 2 years. Pre-pandemic paradigms of office-based workdays have evolved, facilitated by improved technology, acceptance of virtual meeting, and evolving employee work styles,” Holstine shared. “The consensus is that, while individual work can be done better remotely, the more collaborative, and culture-building exercises that are suited to office environments, can still be arranged, often in outdoor settings that appeal even more to employees. CEOs are realizing that new ways of communicating with, and rewarding their teams, can become even better than before. Most CEOs are offering hiring incentives and higher wages, and will increase prices in the year ahead. “With technologically-savvy workers in demand, companies are investing in technology that better supports remote work, and thus increases their hiring footprint. This new technology also increases their ability to reach more customers. Likewise, buyers have become much more accustomed to purchasing digitally, at all hours, and without a salesperson. The traditional role of ‘sales’ has decreased, while the role of ‘Marketing’ has increased, and covers more of the entire selling process. This requires companies to redesign their approach, their websites, and their buying options for their customers, in order to optimize the new advantages of a digital marketplace. Today’s group of CEOs are sharing research, practical experience, and ideas in identifying ways to help teams and companies work more effectively and successfully. Moderating a CEO peer group dedicated to raising their businesses to new levels of productivity, is more inspiring now than ever before. Whether it’s the discussion of economic trends or communications with customers and salesforce, the interplay of ideas is crucial to finding solutions that fit each CEO’s company,” Holstine added.

People Analyzer - Great EOS Tool (Jay Holstine Video)

EXPERIENCED CEO, COACH, AND MENTOR, JAY HOLSTINE An accomplished business leader, Jay Holstine serves as a Vistage Chair and CEO Peer Group advisor in Dallas, Texas. As a growth-oriented CEO, Jay brings pragmatic methods and incisive analysis to help CEOs improve their work-life balance, and transition from working-in-the business ,to working-on-the-business more effectively. A deep experience in operations, along with a foundation in consulting, and years of growing companies, is what enables Jay to coach management teams on successful business scaling.

Optimize your organization by getting the Right People in the Right Seat video by Jay Holstine

JAY HOLSTINE - EXPERIENCED OPERATIONS CONSULTANT & BUSINESS EXECUTIVE Drawing on more than 30 years of experience as a software CEO and operations management consultant, Jay Holstine works with business leaders and companies seeking to achieve diverse objectives, such as improving revenues, developing sales strategies, and pursuing other operational goals. Jay Holstine also serves as managing director at Compass Advisory Consultants, where 30 percent of his clients have achieved successful exit outcomes. In addition to assisting with positioning for potential exits, he offers coaching services in the areas of restructuring company segments, building teams, and raising investment capital. Jay Holstine also provides consultations to business leaders at Vistage Worldwide, Inc., where he is the Chair of a CEO Peer Advisory Board. After growing a software company for 12 years, uncovering new markets, and ultimately selling it, Jay wanted to develop Leaders, help them make better decisions, help them grow their companies. Jay's goal is to build a Legacy of amazing people that can positively Impact our communities. In an executive peer group, there is a kind of shared wisdom (from successes as well as mis-steps,) that helps you re-think accepted practices and habits, in order to forge new paths of success. Mr. Holstine has been the CEO of several software companies. For example, he served as CEO and president of FreightFlow, a Transportation Management Software company - headquartered in Reno Nevada, and SigmaFlow, a human-centric business process management software company - headquartered in Dallas Texas, and RigLocker an oil & gas rig maintenance software company - headquartered in Dallas Texas. He prepared for his career by earning a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Kansas and working on software development projects when he worked for Accenture Consulting and Deloitte Consulting.

Successful Business Teams: Jay Holstine workshop

“What does it take to build a great team? Our discussion is enriched by 16 different leadership perspectives,” Jay Holstine said, as he moderates a CEO peer group dedicated to raising their businesses to new levels of productivity and efficiency. “Whether it’s: more defined rules of engagement, the attributes of a great teammate, or new strategies to build accountability… the interplay of ideas is crucial to finding solutions that fit each CEO’s company,” Holstine added. “I realized that having a team that working well together was as crucial as an excellent product, when I was running my process improvement software company, and employing experts in several countries,” Holstine said. Today’s group of CEOs are sharing research, practical experience, and ideas in identifying ways to help teams and companies work more effectively and successfully. Accountability and Clarity: “One of our leaders shared an experience in which employees in a satellite office perceived that others had not followed through on the plan; yet the expectations had not been clearly articulated, were not mutually understood, and were not measurable. This drove home the importance of clearly articulated measures of accountability, to make sure that everyone’s expectations are in line,” Holstine shared. “Another CEO relayed the importance of credibility and respect. The bottom line is that you need to have consistent application of fair standards in order to build an environment where the project team trusts that everyone is supporting each other and working for the same goal,” Holstine noted. “Critical conclusions included: Teams should have a support structure to enable frank discussion of solution options. Innovation comes from teams that are able to share different perspectives on problem-solving. With some guidelines and guardrails, a healthy disagreement can bring new levels of solutions. Structured Interaction, at a team event outside of work, helps team members see the less obvious strengths and authenticity of their team members. Understanding each other’s growth goals, or hurdles they’ve overcome, builds empathy. This shared experience helps build each other’s trust, respect and loyalty. Help your team understand each other. Build in a group meal, and personal sharing exercises, to highlight team members’ personal strengths and communication styles. The DiSC assessment test helps a team learn about their own disposition, and their colleagues’ preferences. By discussing motivators, work styles and communication habits, you can bridge misunderstandings and build trust. - The Finish Line: An inspiring and compelling goal focuses a team on success. Behavior is most likely to adapt when changes are a matter of survival. Necessity of project success is one of the most effective ways to build trust and involvement. A successful team is focused on a purpose, with an organized timeline and set of responsibilities, deliverables and rewards. This emphasizes the value of the team’s success and its importance to the company. “People are motivated by being a strong part of an important team. After a lot of shared strategies based on experience and research, the group agreed that these points are critical in keeping a team on the same page and working smart,” Holstine noted. “These types of concerns are one of the areas of leadership that this group regularly confers on,” Holstine said. "The Vistage CEO peer group enables a shared wisdom based on experience so that trusted leaders, from non-competing industries, can continue to grow their teams’ skills and capabilities.”

How to maximize Team Cohesion with Dispersed Workforce

Running a software company internationally, and employing experts in various countries, Jay Holstine became very familiar with scheduling conferences in coordination with various time zones. “Our learning curve was gradual, as our team grew steadily over 12 years, but we realized it was critical to communicate effectively and work well together,” he said. Today Jay Holstine is moderating a Dallas CEO peer group discussion on how best to keep their internationally dispersed teams on the same page, and working together successfully. “While our geographically flexible work environment enables teams to span continents, and deliver faster results, it requires even more effective collaboration and better communication to keep a team working together really well. Here are some of the concerns and strategies we discussed,” Holstine shared. 1. CLEAR OBJECTIVES: The project should have a compelling purpose, with an organized timeline and set of roles, responsibilities, and deliverables. There should be clear rewards, as well as an understanding of how the potential lack of this team’s success could affect the company. This emphasizes the value of the team’s success and its importance to the company. In today’s geographically diverse locations, team members from dissimilar backgrounds could have different understandings of the group’s goals. If they are too vague, one location could interpret the priority as: High quality, regardless of cost,’ while another location could interpret speed of delivery over quality and cost. 2. CLEAR LINES: “Eyes on the Prize” Along with defined guidelines and processes, teams need a focus that is kept on the objective, and rules that promote positive collaboration, and reduce destructive tendencies. A balanced mixture of technical skills and cultural understanding is in the diversity in knowledge, languages, and perspectives, that help teams succeed in various markets, and countries with different infrastructures and economies from the home headquarters. You can guard against the potential downside of a large, diverse team becoming fragmented by carefully considering the necessity when adding members and assignments. Reinforce the communication of the team’s goals, and closely monitor performance feedback to maintain alignment. Remember what really motivates people, inclusion in something important, engagement. For example, overseas teams that only receive feedback when something doesn’t work, are not going to feel as involved in a well-functioning team. If you can organize the work to integrate this part of the team more fully in the overall work, it can increase their sense of involvement and the quality of their efforts. Leadership that sets clear expectations – such as, being at meetings on time, actively listening to feedback, and basic rules for respect and fairness, are critical when team members operate across different national, or organizational cultures. In teams whose membership changes, it’s even more important to emphasize these expectations. 3. PART OF AN IMPORTANT TEAM Variations in culture and time-zone can be reduced if team members get to know each other and appreciate the things they have in common with their distantly-located team members. Without being in the same room, some of the non-verbal communication and contextual cues are lost, making it even harder for team members to feel understood. If teams are not able to meet together for a shared meal or meeting, they can organize meetings that enable them to understand each other better. For example, highlighting several things about each team member that the group can relate to, on a positive, human basis. Emphasizing commonalities, (shared sports, types of pets, background skills, similar places visited,) can bridge enormous distances. What makes us human is more important than the cultural idiosyncrasies or current events that can divide us. Being part of a team that needs a successful outcome is an important step in fostering a supportive team culture. Ensure that each group of the team feels known and valued for its contributions toward the goals. 4. GOOD SUPPORT – In addition to a fair and attainable reward system that reinforces good performance, team members need the data to support their work, as well as training, and technical assistance. For teams that are geographically distributed, it is even more important to ensure resources that enable success. 5. TEAM SUCCESS Measure and monitor your team’s effectiveness based on: Results, output, the quality and timeliness of your team’s results, and on your team’s success in working well together. Ask your team members to help identify opportunities for improvement. Help ensure that, regardless of distance, individual team members are able to grow their skills and abilities. Across the distance, always ensure that your project maintains emphasis on its clear goals and rewards. Maintain the strength of accountability, professional conduct and clear expectations. Reinforce the availability of reliable Support and Training. Emphasize the shared Team mindset and common goals of success. “After a lot of shared lessons-learned, the group agreed that these strategies are critical in keeping a team on the same page and working smart,” Holstine noted. “This kinds of concerns are one of the areas of leadership that this group regularly confers on,” Holstine said. The Vistage CEO peer group enables a shared wisdom based on experience so that trusted leaders, from non-competing industries, can continue to grow their teams’ skills and capabilities,” Holstine said.

How to inspire effective change management: Jay Holstine workshop

You can devote time and budgets to changing strategy and processes, but in order to sustain the new plan, how do you get leaders, employees, and customers to actually change behaviors? Strategies for inspiring effective, lasting change were discussed in Jay Holstine’s Dallas CEO peer group, and the discussion delivered some strong solutions. “Our group of trusted leaders, from non-competing industries, bring perspectives from various industries, while sharing the common experience from years in organizational leadership. We tackle a lot of compelling challenges, and arrive at solutions that come from hard experiences, and are often incisive and new,” Holstine said. 1. Concentrate the effort, Don’t Dilute it. -- One company posted 7 core competencies and 9 objectives for employees to practice. The result: Nothing changed. When you have too many priorities, nothing is an actual priority. Multi-tasking fragments the focus. Concentrate the efforts on one behavior to change at a time. Then build a logical Sequence of more modifications. 2. Clarify Effective goals are concrete and measurable. Telling a team to “work faster” is vague and not measurable. Asking them to increase production by 10%, by 4pm, is concrete and measurable. "Listen actively" is vague and not measurable. Asking them to "listen and restate what was said to confirm understanding" is concrete and measurable. 3. A picture’s worth a thousand words. - A plant manager wanted to drive home the need for changes in the manufacturing process. When scrap and returned goods reports didn’t inspire senior management to approve the changes, the plant manager decided to save and display one week’s worth defect product. Once senior management recognized the mountain of defective product, the process changes were immediately approved. 4. Peer Influence. People are social animals. Evidence abounds that we keenly feel the influence of our colleagues’ expectations and behavior. Our incentives are boosted by the opinion and actions of those in our circle. Peer behavior can inspire us to catch up, or to refrain from counter-productive behavior. When a group’s success depends on all of its members working together in the same direction, peers will help each other accomplish the goals. 5. Reward the Early-Adopters and Influencers. – Those with the most connections are the ones who instigate group change. Embracing a new behavior follows a diffusion curve — early adopters, followers, late-comers. Key influencers are those to whom others listen, and look to for direction, the "bridges" in a company network. If your early adopters and influencers support the change, it has the best chance of succeeding. 6. Make it Convenient. - You could try to educate your workforce about safety or healthy food. Or you could alter the physical flow to make the right way the easier way. In a company lunchroom, people tend to choose what they see first. Relocate the healthier food to make it more convenient, or cheaper. Nudging people, by making it more appealing and convenient is more successful in encouraging change. 7. Re-frame, Re-order your problem-solving. Identify what the most critical part of a process is, trim off the outdated habits, the relics. Work the problem backward – with the important objective as the priority, and you will have a more effective, simplified process. You have removed the parts that didn’t work, without asking for an actual change. 8. Train for change, and support your workforce. Needed change often involves new skills. Many may not feel confident, despite being motivated. Leaders must enable success through opportunities to learn and practice the new behavior, with support. 9. Compose the right team that wants the new status. Hire and fire based on behaviors. Choose people who embody the desired behaviors and help those who do not help the team effort, find a better fit elsewhere. Match strengths to what the job requires. “By sharpening the goals, activating social forces, and modifying the situation, we can accomplish more effective change,” Holstine said.