Want to get ahead of the curve? Watch Marc Emmer explore Business Trends for 2026 and Beyond in this on-demand webinar and blog series.Since the end of the pandemic, employers have been trying to balance productivity with employee satisfaction. It hasn’t gone well.
While up slightly in 2025, U.S. worker productivity has increased by a meager 1.8% since 2019. Meanwhile, according to Gallup, only 31% of U.S. workers are engaged in their workplace. Nearly 60 million Americans report suffering from some form of mental illness, and 50% say they are stressed at work.
The contributors to this problem are varied and many. The return to the office has been rocky. Employees are bombarded daily with email, social media, and a seemingly unlimited number of work obligations. Business owners face the added burden of managing an increasingly chaotic operating environment — everything from shifting economic variables like tariffs to growing compliance complexity to rapidly evolving technologies such as AI.
The result is that both managers and employees are experiencing burnout simultaneously.
Below, we offer a practical formula for maximizing profitability while creating a productive work environment where employees can thrive in 2026 and beyond.
Creating a clear vision and a focused set of strategic priorities is the glue that binds a management team and governs how work gets done. Many executives confuse having a list of quarterly “rocks” with having a strategy. But strategy is not a task list — it’s a theory of how you will win and what must change.
Companies must begin with a thoughtful analysis of their market, customers, and competitive position before they can define meaningful strategic priorities. Those priorities then govern quarterly work.
Managers should focus on capability-building — developing systems, processes, and technology that enable productivity at scale. They should not spend most of their time executing client work. When managers are stuck in execution, productivity stalls.
The work that needs to be done varies dramatically by role. One reason clarity around priorities matters is that it balances managerial workload. In particular, mid-level managers can get consumed by “piranha projects” — small initiatives that nibble away at time and energy without moving the business forward.
As a rule, managers should focus on no more than 3 to 4 major initiatives at a time. Studies reveal a correlation between the number of priorities a worker is asked to manage and their level of stress. In mid-market companies, complexity requires that work be managed through cross-functional teams rather than individuals operating in silos.
Good managers nurture employees and delegate effectively.
Organizations that scale build management systems that support decision-making and execution. This includes the right meeting cadence, clear reporting, and effective collaboration tools. A strong management system ensures that information flows quickly and decisions are made at the right level.
As companies evolve from small private concerns to thriving mid-market companies, they manage large, complex projects (such as acquisitions or ERP implementations) effectively. This means mastering project management and providing the resources to manage change. For smaller companies, there needs to be a Chief of Staff or similar role capable of project management. Companies grow to the point where they need a Project Management Office (PMO).
Want to get ahead of the curve? Watch Marc Emmer explore Business Trends for 2026 and Beyond in this on-demand webinar and blog series.
More than ever, management teams must embrace technology that drives productivity. While AI dominates headlines, adoption has been slower than expected. Tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT already add value by rewriting emails, drafting documents, and creating schedules. However, the real productivity leap will come from AI agents that execute work autonomously.
That said, companies don’t need to wait for full agent deployment. Work can be organized today into repeatable workflows and workstreams. Many processes — approvals, onboarding, reporting — can be automated even without advanced AI.
Internal communication is another overlooked lever. While many organizations have shifted away from email, some still heavily rely on it internally. Work threads in platforms like Teams or Slack are far more efficient and reduce unnecessary back-and-forth.
It is estimated that knowledge workers spend 23% of their time looking for information.
Companies are using new tools, such as retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), to enable queries to find internal information. In the interim, members are using tools such as Notion to create knowledge bases to find the things they need, such as standard operating procedures. Organizing internal information can be a quick win to improve productivity.
Against this backdrop, leaders must rethink how they manage time. New approaches range from focus apps to four-day workweeks, all aimed at improving productivity while reducing stress.
Research on ultra-short workweeks suggests mixed results; compressing the same workload into fewer hours is often counter-productive. Simpler tactics may be more effective. Eliminating a day of meetings per week in favor of focused work has delivered measurable benefits for many organizations.
Ultimately, organizations must work smarter. That means using the right technology, building better systems, and being crystal clear about what work truly matters.
Here are practical time management hacks to consider:
It’s time to ensure your team is enabled for better productivity in 2026 and beyond.
After a year of pessimism and uncertainty, recent research conducted by Vistage and the Wall Street Journal reveals an increase in CEO optimism as we enter 2026. With this improving sentiment comes a variety of business opportunities, and the world’s best CEOs are striking while the iron is hot.
The following are 5 of the most significant business opportunities CEOs are seizing as we kick off a new year:
AI and its ability to improve productivity are the single greatest opportunities for small- to midsize-business leaders heading into 2026. This is one of the few areas where the largest companies don’t have a built-in advantage. Many artificial intelligence tools are available to all, making AI one of the greatest equalizers we’ve ever seen.
Most forward-thinking CEOs are asking, “How do we turn AI into something that is truly driving productivity and improving the customer experience?” Successful CEOs are now building processes that embed AI in how their teams work, rather than just experimenting with it on the side.
The leaders best positioned to pull ahead of their competitors in 2026 are the most disciplined about using AI strategically to innovate. They know exactly how AI is driving productivity, margin, and capacity.
Given the softness of the current labor market, talent is a major opportunity right now. As the unemployment rate ticks up, top leaders are “muscle-building” their talent bench to ensure they are positioned for long-term growth.
The best leaders are focused on creating a business where high performers feel proud and inspired to work. This requires making the company’s mission and impact crystal clear and showing employees how their work connects to something that matters.
One of the most overlooked business opportunities — particularly in a more competitive environment — is getting much closer to every single customer. In a rapidly changing business environment, the most successful CEOs understand what their customers want to fix, accomplish, or avoid. This level of closeness protects them from surprise defections, creates natural growth through the power of referrals, and validates new ideas by allowing business leaders to test whether their strategy will add meaningful value for their customers.
Several macrotrends are reshaping the landscape for small and midsize businesses. Effective CEOs have a pulse on how these trends are impacting their business, including:
Before executing on any of the above business opportunities, the best CEOs ensure they have the right strategy in place.
Rather than simply reacting, they are aligning opportunities to their business needs by outlining the long-term impacts, required investments and resources, and setting clear goals to measure success along the way. In goal setting, they create clarity about exactly what they are trying to cause to happen and how the new initiative will drive customer value.
Having clear milestones in place allows the team to accurately gauge success. Successful CEOs are also willing to walk away or pivot if the expected results don’t materialize. The discipline going into 2026 isn’t just starting the right things; it’s turning off the wrong ones fast.
Heading into 2026, the environment will continue to shift, from the impact of AI and innovation to changes in policy to the labor market and the economy. The CEOs who win will be the ones who take a strategic approach to using AI, invest in great people, get even closer to customers, stay ahead of macrotrends, and boldly shut down what isn’t working so they can double down on what is. Leaders who look at every challenge as a business opportunity will sharpen their competitive edge.
This story first appeared in Entrepreneur.
Nanette Miner’s epiphany sounded less like “a-ha” and more like “uh-oh.”
In 2015, while working with leaders at Fortune 500 companies, Miner heard a U.S. Census Bureau statistic predicting a mass exodus of Baby Boomers from the workforce by 2030. She looked around at her clients’ leadership training programs and realized they were all essentially filled with Boomers.
“I looked at the Millennials and thought, ‘You know, they’re our next set of leaders. And if the Boomers are going to be gone in 15 years, that’s really not enough time to teach somebody leadership concepts and capabilities,’” says Dr. Miner, Ed.D, Founder of The Training Doctor. “I realized these companies were not getting their future leaders ready. And if they weren’t doing it, nobody’s doing it.”
Frequent Vistage speakers Dr. Miner, Simon Vetter, author of “Leading with Vision,” and Chris Czarnik, author of “Winning the War for Talent,” say cultivating a strong leadership pipeline allows small and midsize businesses to keep striving upward. Here, these 3 thought leaders offer tips for small businesses to build the leadership pipeline today that will propel them to sustained success tomorrow.
Imagine creating a football team. You’ll need a whole roster of players committed to improving throughout the season. From that group, you’ll want to cultivate a starting lineup and identify a future team captain. That, in essence, is pipeline building — cultivating an engaged, motivated team that grows in individual and collaborative skills.
How do you know if you’re on the path to victory? Start with your HR data.
“If a business has too much turnover in early career employees, they won’t be able to develop a leadership pipeline because they won’t have enough people to tenure,” Dr. Miner says.
If you already have a committed team — congratulations! If not, Vetter suggests clearly communicating your company’s vision.
“Top teams are aligned around a common purpose,” he says. “Communicate where the company is heading, as well as what their roles and responsibilities are that contribute to that forward momentum.”
Czarnik views the pipeline as a set of stairs, with each step representing internal opportunities to learn and grow.
“Over the last 7 years, Millennials have changed companies every 3.4 years,” he says. “The caveat is that they didn’t really want to. When they stopped learning, they started leaving.”
Preparing a capable pool of leaders across various age groups for the long term requires instilling leadership behaviors early, not just when individuals are promoted.
“My mantra is ‘Leadership from day one,’” Dr. Miner says. “Why are we waiting until we promote someone to a leadership role, or waiting until they are 10 or 20+ years into their career before we develop their leadership capabilities?”
Adopting that mantra helps companies develop leaders at all levels, Czarnik says. Not every employee needs to be groomed to become the next CEO to keep teams engaged, invested, and growing within the company.
“Promotion is the end result,” he says. “Be a problem solver and a teacher inside the organization, and then promotions and advancement will be a natural end result of that.”
Bank of America recently elevated two long-standing executives to co-President, even though both blow out nearly the same number of candles on their birthday cakes as the current CEO, a 65-year-old who vowed to stay in his role for the next decade.
This, Dr. Miner says, is a cautionary tale about how not to build a leadership pipeline.
The short-sighted approach not only creates a conundrum for the executives involved, but it communicates to the entire organization that new ideas, new faces and new people are not valued. Applying this scenario to a small business, Dr. Miner asks CEOs to consider what distinguishes an “ideal” leader for their organization and to start cultivating the skills and capabilities in younger generations so they are ready when the time for advancement arrives. This allows a smaller company to keep its culture, values and goals “in-house” and reduces the risks associated with hiring a senior leader from outside the organization.
Looking to develop your leaders? Learn about Vistage Leadership Development Programs and how they can help you drive transformation within your organization.
Building a leadership pipeline is a lot like building a company. You identify the need and opportunity, assess your resources and execute.
How do you assess your resources? Czarnik’s approach involves pairing a new hire with someone who has been with the company for 18 to 36 months. This helps acclimate the new hire, while simultaneously giving the mentor an opportunity to grow.
“We’re not going to give you a 12-person team and a P&L to manage after 18 months,” he says. “First, we’re going to see if you can mentor one person through this dramatic and traumatic time of coming to work with a bunch of strangers.”
Dr. Miner likens some companies’ approach to leadership development to a game of whack-a-mole, with HR struggling to fill vacant positions rather than building the internal capabilities necessary for growth. With an 85-million-worker shortfall predicted by 2030 according to a Korn Ferry report, that’s simply too many moles to whack.
“The business world is changing so fast now that you really don’t want replacement leaders. You want somebody who’s got the next vision,” she says. “So, instead of interviewing leaders with questions like, ‘What was your budget and how many people did you manage,’ ask questions like ‘What do you think this company should be doing to prepare in the face of today’s changing political climate or the economic climate?’”
Through Vistage peer groups, small business leaders have been sharing best practices that have helped them think specifically about the question: “What do we need today, and what will we need tomorrow?” Czarnik says.
“That’s why we put Advancing Leaders into Vistage, because we’re actually trying to create subject matter experts on topics and improve their leadership,” he says.
To assess, use an assessment, right? Kinda.
Dr. Miner cautions against relying too heavily on annual performance reviews to suss out emerging leaders. Instead, she recommends looking at an even older assessment of an employee: the hiring interview. What was that spark that got them through the door in the first place? Did they exhibit a growth mindset, a thirst for learning and a desire to work collaboratively?
And how well has the company developed those qualities in that employee?
One of Dr. Miner’s Vistage group members shared a story about an employee who had been “phoning it in” until the day the company relocated to a new facility. Touring the new plant — with its new machinery and equipment — the employee lit up. He went home and looked up how everything worked, became engaged with the equipment’s placement and functionality, and showed up to work reinvigorated by the new potential the change created.
“He responded to the opportunity of learning something new,” she says. “You have to keep people engaged and growing so that they don’t want to leave.”
Need a tool to help you align your goals with your talent? Download the Vistage Leadership Development Guide and unleash your team’s full potential.
Czarnik recommends a two-for-one approach to employee development: Ask a junior or emerging team member to choose from a list of company-wide problems, then give that person the opportunity to become a subject-matter expert and advise on actionable solutions. Arm the subject matter expert with Coursera, LinkedIn Learning (whatever is needed and reasonable) and give them the time and space to drill deep.
“Not only does this approach solve the problems of the organization, but because the person chose the topic themselves, they really lean into it,” he says. “In seven years and 200 companies, I have yet to lose a subject matter expert to a recruiter.”
The second part of this approach? When the time comes to select a leader, the right candidate is an obvious choice.
“They will have earned it, and everyone will know it,” he says. “The only caveat here is that the company has to be committed to promoting from within instead of hiring from without.”
Vetter, Dr. Miner and Czarnik acknowledge that if it were easy to build a leadership pipeline, every CEO would already be doing it. By recognizing high-potential leaders early, providing developmental opportunities to close talent gaps, and measuring and cultivating leadership potential, small businesses can not only develop leaders but also become employers of choice in their industry.
Creating a culture that encourages visibility and career growth within a company helps senior management identify emerging leaders — turning the “invisible into the visible,” as Vetter describes it.
“Most leaders have tremendous pressure for short-term results, and they get overwhelmed with transactional projects, so they don’t dedicate enough time to vision-setting,” he says. “They underestimate the power of a vision, but when they are able to create that picture that people can get committed to, it unleashes energy and motivation.”
That motivation, in turn, surfaces people who are committed and want to rise to the challenge of making that vision a reality. “A result that you see with Vistage’s focus on long-term success is the cultivation of leaders who have the ability to pose questions about what’s next and what’s better,” Vetter says.
When in doubt, turn to the data. By developing clear benchmarks and criteria to evaluate leadership readiness, leaders can use data to reduce bias and improve decision-making throughout the pipeline.
The key, Czarnik says, is to devise benchmarks and metrics tailored to your own company’s needs. While talent management software and leadership analytics can help track progress and identify gaps more efficiently, Czarnik cautions leaders to use metrics that align with their company’s needs—not just those that come pre-installed in a talent management system.
“I’m a former military officer,” he says. “The 14 leadership traits we were trained on were bearing, courage, decisiveness, dependability, endurance, enthusiasm, initiative, integrity, judgment, justice, knowledge, loyalty, tact and unselfishness. Well, those were great 45 years ago. If I started my research by just saying, ‘I want to learn about leadership.’ I would be predisposed to only look in those areas, because that’s all I know.”
Vetter and his colleagues conducted a trend survey nearly 7 years ago, in which they asked employees of more than 400 companies to rank the most critical needs in leadership development. The answer? Creating a compelling vision and ensuring employees are emotionally connected to the vision.
“Creating a compelling vision was one of the most important leadership competencies, and it was also one of the most underdeveloped. Seven years later, I don’t think the gap has been reduced. In fact, it has widened,” Vetter says.
A lack of excitement affects how employees, particularly Millennials, show up. And it greatly impacts how often they leave. A Gallup poll found that a full 55% of Millennials reported feeling “unengaged” at work, with 21% switching jobs within the last year and 62% “open to a different opportunity.”
It’s difficult to help people up the corporate ladder if they’re constantly moving through the revolving door.
Dr. Miner overheard two young men talking at a wedding reception. Both were in their 20s, and one was raving about the company he worked for.
“He talked about the training he was getting, and about a five-year apprentice program that was going to give him all these skills and capabilities. The other young man said, ‘Oh, that sounds great. Could you refer me?’” she says. “And I thought, ‘That’s it right there.’ When your employees are your recruiters, you become the employer of choice.”
Dr. Miner credits Vistage peer groups with helping organizations create career development pathways for internal talent — the kind of strategic, tailored growth opportunities that can recruit and retain top talent today while nurturing their leadership capabilities. Providing ongoing support for high-potential leaders is crucial for small businesses competing in a shrinking talent pool.
“In a good company, the leader should be saying, ‘Well, what are you interested in? You know, I can help you learn that skill or move to that department,’” she says.
What happens to a small business when a visionary leader climbs their peak, huffs and puffs in the thin, rarified air, and realizes that they’re standing atop alone?
From this vantage point, it might look as though it is “all downhill from here” for the company that a leader worked so hard to build. But it doesn’t have to be. Developing a strong leadership pipeline ensures that no leader has to make the trek alone — and that companies can continue striving for greater heights for generations to come.
Laying that pipeline requires a radical shift in the way leaders think about how (and when) they identify emerging leaders. The process is about being open to identifying new ways of thinking, working, and growing talent from within.
If done well, a leader can reach their goal, realize their vision and confidently shout, “A-ha!” — instead of looking down from their lonely peak and shrieking, “Uh-oh!”
As confidence continues to build across the small- and midsize-business landscape, activity in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market is gaining new momentum in 2026. To help Vistage CEOs better understand what’s driving this shift — and what it means for your business — I sat down with Zane Tarence, Managing Director at Founders Advisors, for a deep dive into the key forces shaping today’s M&A environment.
Whether you’re planning to sell, acquire, or simply stay informed, here are five key drivers from our conversation to help you think more strategically about your future.
After a series of interest rate cuts in late 2025, borrowing costs are lower, making capital more accessible for buyers. Cheaper money leads to higher valuations because buyers can use more leverage and less equity.
Lower interest rates are reviving deal flow. Whether you’re planning to sell or acquire, now is a more favorable time to explore your options.
In recent years, a wide gap between seller expectations and buyer willingness has slowed down deals. Now, that gap is narrowing. Buyers are more confident and ready to deploy capital — but with discipline. Sellers are becoming more realistic in pricing.
Valuations are stabilizing, and buyers are re-engaging. Now is the time to ensure your business fundamentals — recurring revenue, clean financials, and strong leadership — are in order.
Public companies and larger strategic acquirers are aggressively pursuing acquisitions to accelerate growth. With organic growth harder to achieve, many are shifting focus to acquiring innovation, technology, or regional footholds.
Interestingly, strategic buyers are often less concerned with company size — if there’s a strong strategic fit, even small businesses are attractive.
If your company brings strategic value (IP, M&A market share, talent, or tech), it could be a target — regardless of revenue size.
Explore more from Founder Advisors: 12 Factors to Drive an Outsized Valuation. Available now on the Vistage Transaction Center (login required).
After sitting cautiously on the sidelines, private equity firms are re-entering the M&A market. Many are focused on buying “add-ons” for their existing platform companies, especially in fragmented industries. The result: There’s a surge in roll-up strategies targeting companies with $10–100M in revenue.
Know your positioning: Are you a potential add-on or a future platform? Either way, growth, scale, and predictability will boost your valuation and attract interest.
Cross-border M&A is rising. International buyers — including sovereign wealth funds — are seeking U.S.-based companies to strengthen supply chains, access innovation, and invest in stable, rule-of-law markets.
Don’t overlook inbound interest. Foreign buyers may bring competitive offers, particularly if your business aligns with global supply chain, technology, or infrastructure strategies.
With talent being a top decision, investment and challenge for CEOs in the year ahead, Zane emphasized the significance of talent in M & A, stating “Exceptional people create exceptional results.” Acquirers are buying talent just as much as product or market share. They’re also acquiring innovation; there is a trend of large companies reducing their Research & Development and instead buying proven solutions, technology and talent.
In previous years, seller expectations and buyer willingness were miles apart. That gap is shrinking. With valuations stabilizing and more flexible deal structures on the rise, 2026 may be the strongest year in a while for deal-making.
Now is the time for CEOs to prepare simply by building a healthy company. Build optionality by knowing your valuation, cleaning up your balance sheet, benchmarking your industry, and clarifying your desired outcome. Zane offered this practical guidance for CEO decision-making:
To provide securities-related services, certain principals of Founders Advisors, LLC are licensed with Founders M&A Advisory, LLC, a member of FINRA & SiPC. Founders M&A Advisory is a wholly owned subsidiary of Founders Advisors. Neither Founders Advisors nor Founders M&A Advisory provides investment advice.
Aspiring executive coaches often enter the field with two 2 goals: doing meaningful work and earning a stable income. But real earnings rarely match what certification programs promise. Many coaches discover that building a profitable practice takes years, not months, and there is a wide gap between top performers and everyone else.
Executive coaching is an unregulated industry. No single credential, program, or career path determines success. What you earn depends almost entirely on your model and the support behind it.
| Across the Industry, 3 Primary Paths Dominate: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Independent coaches | Corporate or internal coaches | Certification-based coaching programs |
Each offers a different level of stability, risk, and earning potential. Below, we’ll walk through each model honestly, including typical first-year earnings and long-term potential. Then we’ll compare that path with the income trajectory of a Vistage Chair, which blends entrepreneurship with the structure of a proven, global platform.
Independent coaching is attractive because it promises autonomy, but very few coaches enter the market with built-in demand or a predictable pipeline. The early years often require heavy prospecting, inconsistent revenue, and a focus on hourly billing instead of recurring income.
While Vistage Chairs are responsible for building their own groups, they do so within a structured model, established brand and proven frameworks that reduce volatility and support long-term, recurring relationships rather than one-off engagements.
Industry surveys and anecdotal reports from experienced coaches and corporate leaders paint a consistent picture:
Even highly talented coaches can find themselves spending more time on sales than on actual coaching. Independent coaches face three structural challenges:
Some executives transition into full-time coaching roles inside large companies, universities, or leadership development firms.
These roles offer a reliable salary and benefits with a clear job structure, but they come with a notable tradeoff: income caps are rigid, and the coach has less control over their schedule, clients, or long-term practice growth.
Most corporate coaching roles pay $75K to $120K annually. Senior-level roles or consulting firm positions may climb higher, but they rarely exceed the low 6 figures unless tied to profit sharing. For coaches who want stability above independence, this path makes sense. But for executives who value autonomy and schedule flexibility, the structure will feel restrictive.
Certification programs market the promise of becoming a “professional coach,” but they often oversell income expectations. They provide useful tools and structure, but certifications alone do not guarantee clients. Coaches who begin their journey through certification often return later for more reliable income streams, such as teaching, consulting, or affiliating with a system that already has brand credibility.
| Certification-Only Coaching Program Challenges | Why They Matter |
|---|---|
| No Built-in Client Demand | Graduates must generate all demand independently and compete with thousands of similarly certified coaches. |
| High Upfront Investment Before Revenue | Certification fees are paid before market demand or client traction is validated. |
| Wide Income Variability | Certification alone does not create recurring revenue or retention. |
| Market Saturation | Credentials are common and difficult to differentiate without brand leverage or a distinct platform. |
The Vistage Chair model is fundamentally different from traditional coaching paths. Rather than building a practice alone, Chairs join a global platform with 65+ years of credibility and built-in support.
Chairs operate as independent contractors, but within a powerful ecosystem that accelerates trust and helps them build groups faster.
| Advantage | How It Supports Income |
|---|---|
| Recurring Monthly Revenue | Stable, predictable compensation instead of hourly billing |
| Established Global Brand | Opens doors faster and reduces the time to sign your first member |
| Structured Development through Chair Academy | Teaches business development, facilitation and group growth |
| Back-end Support | Support for marketing and billing that most coaching systems lack |
| Long Group Tenure | Creates annuity-like stability year after year |
Traditional coaching requires constant client acquisition. Vistage Chairs, by contrast, build a model based on:
This structure greatly reduces revenue volatility.
Vistage CEO members stay an average of 5 years, which means a full group creates reliable recurring income. Once established, Chairs often expand with a second CEO group or Key Executive programs. You decide how much to grow based on the lifestyle you want.
The larger the practice, the greater the income potential. Chairs have the flexibility to scale in multiple directions.
Because groups tend to stay together for many years, Chairs enjoy long-term financial stability.
Clarity is why many executives choose Vistage over building solo coaching practices from scratch. Below is a simplified, transparent comparison based on publicly available industry standards.
| Coaching Path | First-Year Typical Income | Long-Term Income Potential | Income Stability | Business Development Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent Executive Coach | Low to mid-5 figures | Mid 5 figures | Low | None |
| Corporate/Internal Coach | Mid to high 5 figures | Low 6 figures | Medium–High | Provided by employer |
| Certification-Based Coach | Low 5 figures | Highly variable | Low | None |
| Vistage Chair | Mid to high 5 figures | Mid to high 6 figures | High, recurring | Extensive infrastructure, brand power and training |
When executives weigh their next chapter, the differences between solo coaching and the Vistage Chair model become clear.
Chairs get Fortune 500-level tools, such as business valuations and strategic planning frameworks, plus development through Vistage’s proven Issue Processing model, and access to curated speakers with in-depth knowledge.
Chairs receive marketing support, build coaching, lead-generation campaigns, and a dedicated regional team.
The Chair community, with 1,400 members, functions as its own peer advisory group, offering collaboration and shared expertise.
You influence 12-18 CEOs at once, who in turn influence hundreds of employees, families, and communities.
A mature group takes about seven days per month. Even with multiple groups, most Chairs work around 40 hours a month, leaving time for board service, travel and family. And because Vistage peer groups are local, not much travel is involved.
Long group tenure and meaningful relationships make being a Chair a deeply fulfilling second career.
For former CEOs and senior executives seeking meaningful work and flexible schedules, the Chair role is one of the most compelling paths available.
If you’re ready for work that creates impact and delivers sustainable income, the Chair role may be your next step.
Learn what it takes to build your first group.
Do CEOs need mentors? The quick answer: Oh yeah, they do!
Here’s one proof point: When Harvard Business Review surveyed chief executives with formal mentoring arrangements, 71% said company performance improved, 76% said they were better able to fulfill stakeholder expectations, and 84% said they more rapidly achieved proficiency in their roles.
Clearly, mentoring is a high-impact proposition.
Who can coach an organization’s top leader, though?
Given the nature of the job, CEOs typically look outside the business for a mentor, often scouring the ranks of retired and semi-retired executives for the right fit.
Not just any former C-suiter can become a good mentor, however. What traits make the difference? Two individuals with mentoring experience weigh in on the 7 attributes it takes to be effective.
Ask longtime coach and Vistage Chair Marty Stowe about the most important trait a mentor should possess, and he has an immediate answer. “The heart of a servant leader,” he says, “because being a mentor is something you do for bigger reasons than yourself.”
To Stowe, that means attending not to his own plans for a mentoring relationship, but rather responding to what most concerns the CEO he’s working with. “You’ve got to figure out what they want to improve upon. Sometimes it’s not what you think. Sometimes it’s not even business.”
He says that many CEOs seek a mentor’s help with personal matters, such as how to be a caring spouse or an involved parent. To be of service, the mentor must allow sessions to go wherever the mentee needs them to go.
Shaun Bradley has been a U.S. Navy officer, CEO of a nationwide recruiting company, and coach for over 60 youth sports teams. Always an inspiring leader and now a CEO mentor, Bradley focuses on another key mentoring trait: the ability to increase someone else’s confidence.
As he puts it, “The greatest gift you can give people is to believe in them. If you believe in people, they will do amazing things.”
One might assume that CEOs have plenty of self-assurance, but that’s not usually the case, according to Stowe. “What’s the biggest surprise for me in dealing with all these powerful and very successful CEOs? About 80% of them believe they’re imposters.”
Sometimes, a mentor needs to do little more than help counter basic insecurities.
The right heart and true belief in the CEO mentee are good starting places, but what actually happens in mentoring conversations frequently boils down to one thing. “Stories. Stories. Stories. Stories.” Bradley repeats for emphasis. “We learn by stories. We’re a storytelling and story-hearing species.”
For decades, Bradley has been drawing on this human propensity to derive meaning from a narrative. When working as a talent recruiter, for example, he wouldn’t ask candidates to rehash their résumés.
Instead, he’d offer individuals the chance to tell their stories. He says that he consistently gleaned much more useful and truthful insight this way.
Today, Bradley takes the same approach in mentoring relationships, always asking, “Is there something in my background that connects with their background?” and then building from that foundation.
Asking for a mentee’s story may be the first question in a mentoring relationship but it shouldn’t be the last. In fact, Stowe believes that how questions are handled sets mentors apart from other types of advisors.
“Consultants answer your questions,” he says, “but mentors question your answers.”
That’s where emotional intelligence often comes into play as well.
“It takes EQ to know when a person is being honest with you and when they’re giving you an answer just to give you an answer. It also takes EQ to know when to push,” Bradley explains.
How can you tell? “Pay attention and listen to their eyes.”
Although a mentor exists to serve the mentee, there’s no escaping the fact that they are also, in many respects, a role model.
Bradley reflects, “I had a great boss in the Navy; he later became an admiral. And the boss at my first job out of the Navy. A lot of things they did, I did — I’ve copied them my whole life.”
Mentors must therefore act with intention and carefully select the stories they share. But Bradley highlights that seeing oneself in the other is also a two-way street.
“The mentee will, in an ideal scenario, view the mentor as somebody they want to be,” he says. At the same time, “the mentor ideally sees in the mentee somebody who was like them long ago.” This mirroring fosters empathy, another critical component of the mentoring relationship.
It’s great when the mentee admires the mentor, but effort is frequently required to ensure both sides remain on equal footing.
“The more the leader opens up, the better the mentoring,” Bradley opines. “Then the mentee is not going to be intimidated or uncomfortable sharing things.”
Stowe concurs. “The reason you have to be vulnerable is that a lot of times when the protégé looks up to a mentor, they might say ‘this person has all the answers.’ You have to be vulnerable to show that you’ve been there, too, that we are not perfect creatures.”
Stowe’s rule of thumb for aspiring CEO mentors. “Your protégé or your mentee will only be as authentic and vulnerable as you are.”
“I’ll be honest with you, most of what I do is just conversation,” Bradley admits. “The secret sauce is the personal relationship.”
The personal relationship between a mentor and a mentee is something special, though. Bradley remains in contact with a high school basketball coach and a mentor from his Navy days. “A good mentor relationship is a lifelong relationship,” he says.
Perhaps that’s why both Bradley and Stowe react the same way when they’re asked to mentor.
“A mentor should feel like it’s an honor that this person thinks I might be able to help them,” says Bradley. “When people would ask me to mentor, I was honored,” Stowe agrees.
Fortunately, there are plentiful opportunities to accept the honor of becoming a mentor. “Just look around. People are crying for this,” Bradley says. “People are crying for somebody to believe in them.”
And that heartfelt belief in the unique greatness revealed in another person — that may be a mentor’s most important trait.
Most long-term plans are built on assumptions. We model markets. We model inflation. We model all kinds of risk.
But there is another assumption embedded in nearly every projection, whether we acknowledge it or not: Our health will more or less hold long enough for us to enjoy the life we are building toward.
That assumption deserves scrutiny.
We are living longer than any generation before us. That is the good news. The not-so-great news is that we are not living longer and healthier.
In the United States, average life expectancy is now close to 80 years. Yet estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that only about 62-63 of those years are spent in good health. The final decade or more is often marked by declining mobility, chronic disease, cognitive impairment, and escalating care needs.
Approximately 60 percent of U.S. adults live with at least one chronic disease, and among adults over 65, nearly 80 percent have at least one, with most managing multiple conditions simultaneously.
From a human perspective, this changes how the second half of life is experienced. From a planning perspective, it introduces a form of risk that is rarely modeled until it becomes unavoidable.
Most of us are not intentionally neglecting our health. We are doing exactly what the system tells us to do: annual physicals, routine labs, and reassurance that everything looks “normal.”
The problem is that reassurance is not insight.
In the United States, reference ranges for lab values are based on population averages. When more than 90 percent of the population is metabolically unhealthy, falling within the average range is not ideal.
Being told your results are “normal” does not answer the more important question: Are key systems stable, resilient, and moving in the right direction? Or is risk quietly accumulating beneath the surface?
Many of the conditions that disrupt independence later in life, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, dementia, and kidney disease, etc, develop gradually over decades. By the time symptoms appear or a diagnosis is made, the underlying process has often been unfolding for years.
Waiting for symptoms is like only looking at your finances after the credit cards are maxed out and the check bounces. By then, your options are already limited.
Modern medicine is optimized for diagnosing disease and intervening once something is clearly wrong. That model is essential for acute care, but it is fundamentally misaligned with long-term planning. It does not exist to validate assumptions, monitor trajectory, or protect future optionality in people who feel mostly fine. Expecting it to do so is a category error.
If we want different outcomes, the responsibility for monitoring the long-term trajectory falls to us.
We already understand this in other domains. We do not wait for a crisis to reassess exposure or stress-test assumptions. We monitor early signals so we have room to adjust.
Health deserves the same treatment.
The vitality of your business depends on your health. Visit the Vistage CEO Health & Wellness Resource Center today and discover new ways to sustain and grow your greatest asset.
Health intelligence is not about replacing medical care or pursuing optimization for its own sake.
It is about applying the same discipline we already use elsewhere: early data, pattern recognition, and course correction before outcomes harden.
Health intelligence shifts the focus:
The goal is not certainty. It is clarity. Clarity about which systems are compensating. Clarity about which signals matter. Clarity about where early intervention meaningfully changes long-term outcomes.
Insulin is one of the earliest indicators of metabolic dysfunction, yet it is rarely measured unless diabetes is already suspected. Insulin resistance can precede changes in blood sugar or A1C by 10 to 20 years, quietly increasing cardiovascular and cognitive risk. Every annual report should include it, yet few do (Go check your last labs. I’ll wait).
Sleep is another foundational signal we don’t monitor closely enough. Chronic midlife sleep degradation in quality or quantity is strongly associated with insulin resistance, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and increased risk of dementia later in life. This is not a willpower issue. It is a systems issue.
These are only two of many signals that we track, but they highlight a critical truth: the information that protects long-term agency almost always appears earlier than we expect.
Most of us are not trying to maximize lifespan. We want to remain clear, capable, mobile, and independent long enough to enjoy what we have built: meaningful work, relationships, freedom, and time.
That outcome is not accidental.
It requires examining assumptions early, validating them with better data, and adjusting course while flexibility still exists.
Health, like wealth, compounds quietly.
The question is not whether change is coming. The question is whether we are shaping it intentionally — or discovering it too late.
Ask 2 simple questions: Who wins when I am healthy? Who wins when I am sick? If your health care team only springs into action once something is wrong, and billing only begins when you are unwell, the incentive structure is misaligned with your long-term health.
The standard annual physical is designed to detect disease, not to validate health assumptions. Advanced, in-depth blood chemistry provides a clearer picture of metabolic health, inflammation, cardiovascular risk, and early trajectory.
Decide what you want to be able to do in the final years of your life. Then work backward. Those outcomes require specific levels of muscle, metabolic stability, balance, and cognitive resilience today.
There is no such thing as breakfast food. Food is simply an input. Starting the day with clean protein, healthy fats, and fiber supports blood sugar stability and sustained cognitive energy.
Health intelligence is a cycle, not a path. Collect data, assess risk, adjust course, and reassess. This is how we avoid health surprises later in life.
The goal is not perfection. It is about options.
More time to adjust the course. More ability to remain independent. More control over how health changes over time.
When we apply the same discipline to health that we already apply to wealth, the conversation changes. We stop asking whether something is “wrong” and start asking whether we are on track toward the future we are planning.
Want to learn more? Then check out Jessica’s discussion, Optimize Your Health to Maximize Your Impact. The discussion includes a Q&A session with Vistage Chair Frank Day.
The results of the latest Vistage Confidence Index have been released. And they paint a picture of resilience, pragmatism, and renewed confidence among UK and Irish SME leaders.
The Autumn Budget has done little to reassure leaders about the direction of the wider economy. However, leaders are doubling down on what they can control.
Planned investment is up, and many are feeling cautiously optimistic about their revenues and profitability for the year ahead. Accordingly, the Q4 CEO Confidence Index shows overall confidence rising to 93.6, up from 88 in Q3 and 91.4 this time last year.
We view this as a clear indication that businesses are becoming increasingly confident in their own abilities to navigate the challenging conditions ahead, rather than relying on external support.
Read on for the report’s key findings.
Download the Q4 2025 Vistage Confidence Index in full.
Leaders are painfully aware of the economic and geopolitical challenges ahead. But they aren’t simply battening down the hatches and quietly riding out the storm until conditions improve.
Instead, they’re actively doubling down on strengthening their competitive position and laying the groundwork for sustainable growth.
Over three-quarters of leaders expect their total fixed investment expenditures to increase or remain the same over the next twelve months, with just two in ten anticipating a reduction.
Top priorities include product and service development, adopting new technologies, and making changes to leadership.
The generative AI boom of the past few years is set to continue steadily into 2026, with almost half of leaders citing investment in AI as a top priority for the year ahead.
Meanwhile, generative AI seems to have already become business as usual in many organisations. More than seven in ten leaders say members of the leadership team use AI, while almost half report that employees use AI tools independently. In fact, just a tiny 7% say that AI is not being used at all.
Amidst growing concern around AI-related job losses, almost half of all SME leaders anticipate that AI will lead to role re-allocation, while 14% expect it to create entirely new roles. Just 15% expect AI to reduce headcount.
Download the Q4 2025 Vistage Confidence Index.
Often, heightened optimism gives way to a phase of adjustment as expectations meet reality. One year ago, CEO confidence surged as post-election optimism fueled expectations of pro-business policies, easing inflation, and lower borrowing costs. That enthusiasm faded quickly. Shifting trade policy, rising costs, and uneven demand made planning difficult, sharply lowering confidence in early 2025 before it gradually stabilized.
That context matters as the Q4 2025 Vistage CEO Confidence Index shows a modest but meaningful improvement. Confidence rose to 88.9, an increase of 7 points from last quarter. More notably, this is also nearly 7 points above the 3-year average. This increase does not signal a return to euphoria. Instead, it reflects a growing acceptance of the conditions CEOs expect to face and a clearer view of both risks and opportunities for their business heading into 2026.
Looking back, CEOs remain pessimistic about U.S. economic conditions compared with a year ago, reflecting sentiment before the new administration took office. Forty percent believe that current economic conditions are worse than a year ago, while just over 1 in 5 report improvement.
Forward-looking expectations are less pessimistic, with less than 1 in 4 CEOs (23%) expecting economic conditions in the U.S. to worsen in the next 12 months. Additionally, the proportion of CEOs expecting improvements to economic conditions has grown to nearly one-third (32%).
Overall confidence is on the rise, not because macroeconomic conditions are stronger, but because uncertainty has become more familiar. Leaders have recalibrated expectations, moving away from reacting to headlines and social media posts and waiting for policy clarity and toward operating within a range of outcomes they can manage. Our data reveal that CEOs increasingly acknowledge that opportunities for their businesses are separate from macroeconomic trends.
“Things will look better in 2026 than they did in 2025,” said Lauren Saidel-Baker, CFA, a senior economist at ITR Economics. “A lot of that uncertainty is now behind us, and we can move off those lows and into growth — but this is a slow build in momentum, not flipping a switch.”
ITR Economics perspective helps explain why confidence is rising even as caution persists. Improvement is expected, but gradually, as leaders plan for progress rather than a rapid rebound.
As sentiment stabilizes, CEOs are sharpening their focus on the decisions that will shape performance in 2026. Revenue expectations are a key driver of confidence, with nearly seven in ten CEOs anticipating higher sales in the year ahead, a 9-point improvement from Q3. Profitability expectations have also improved, though to a lesser extent, reflecting continued pressure from wages, rising insurance costs, and supplier pricing.
The gap between revenue optimism and profit expectations is influencing decision-making. Growth alone is unlikely to resolve margin pressure. Instead, CEOs are prioritizing decisions around people, pricing, strategy, and technology — choices that emphasize execution over expansion.
Investment plans reinforce this measured approach. While the proportion of CEOs who plan to increase fixed investment spending has risen marginally, half expect investment levels to remain unchanged. Capital allocation in the year ahead will reflect discipline rather than hesitation, with spending directed toward resilience and building long-term capability.
When asked about top investments for the year ahead, CEOs reported people and talent were their lead investment priorities for 2026, followed closely by technology and business development. Artificial Intelligence is increasingly embedded in these decisions. Rather than funding sweeping transformation efforts, AI investments reported by CEOs are concentrated on tools, training, and workflow support that improve productivity and extend the capacity of the existing workforce. It is critical that AI efforts align with the organization’s greatest pain points and highest priorities, and CEOs need to manage and communicate that expectation.
Despite improving confidence, CEOs remain very conscious of the challenges their businesses face. Hiring, staffing, and retention continue to top the list of CEO challenges, reflecting labor shortages, skill gaps, and wage pressure. Economic uncertainty and margin pressure remain close behind, reinforcing cautious planning.
At the same time, workforce expansion plans have strengthened, with 7% planning to increase their workforce. As finding qualified employees remains a challenge in the tight labor market, an increasing number of CEOs are sourcing talent globally: 38% currently use employees (15%) or contractors (23%) outside the U.S., and an additional 5% plan to do so in the future.
AI has not displaced the need for people. Instead, it is reshaping how work gets done and which capabilities matter most. Demand for digitally engaged employees continues to rise, and training and governance are necessary investments of time and resources.
AI usage is now widespread across small and midsize businesses. More than three-quarters (76%) of CEOs report personal use of generative AI, indicating that they find it impactful for improving strategic thinking and decision-making, accelerating research and analysis, and streamlining communication and administrative work.
Digital engagement is increasing across leadership teams, functional areas, and individual employees. Adoption has outpaced formal strategy, creating a gap between experimentation and execution that CEOs must address this year.
“I use it daily as my thought partner to help me solve things I am stuck on as well as to poke holes in some of my strategy,” says Eddie Russnow, president of MAC Products, Inc. in Kearny, New Jersey. “I also use it when it is embedded in Word, Excel, Teams, etc. Recordings of meetings with AI notes and transcripts are a game-changer for me, so I do not have to take manual notes.”
For 2026, the challenge for CEOs will be alignment as they integrate AI into strategic plans, evaluate governance structures, and implement training programs. However, CEOs must recognize that isolated productivity gains will not deliver sustained advantages. As AI adoption increases, SMBs also need to remain vigilant against heightened cyber risk and to update their cyber-risk strategies.
Entering the new year, this uptick in CEO confidence reflects hard-earned experience. After a year of uncertainty, decisions for the year ahead have become clearer, investments more targeted, and challenges better understood. While growth is expected, it will be gradual, and CEOs must expect trade-offs and focus on executing their strategic plans. The shift from reacting to volatility to making deliberate choices within it may make their optimism more durable and steadier than last year.
To explore the full Vistage CEO Confidence Index survey dataset, view the infographic and visit our data center.
The Q4 2025 Vistage CEO Confidence Index survey was conducted between December 2 and 16, 2025, and captured input from 1,202 leaders who are active Vistage members of Chief Executive and Small Business groups in the United States.
Generative AI is rapidly evolving from workplace novelty to an unavoidable tool. Yet the most accurate measure of Gen AI’s impact on a company’s success still lies in its people. Ultimately, it is humans — not the technology itself — who have the power to unleash AI’s full potential.
Engagement is far from a new workforce metric. Data confirms that engaged employees perform better, have higher retention rates, and generate more revenue per person than their disengaged peers. But in today’s world, being “engaged” is no longer enough – employees must also be “digitally engaged.”
Digitally engaged employees not only take pride in what and how they work, but they also lead with natural curiosity. They don’t simply show up to clock in and do the bare minimum; instead, they willingly explore, experiment, and push their own limits, whether it’s the way they do their job or how they maximize their productivity. They proactively seek learning and development opportunities to gain the skills necessary to thrive, both in their current role and in future roles that AI will undoubtedly shape. They are willing to make mistakes, knowing that progress trumps perfection.
Accelerate your productivity and reshape your workforce. Get the report: Digital Engagement: A Predictor of Productivity.
It is these digitally engaged employees who are creating the playbook for leveraging Gen AI to yield meaningful individual, team, and ultimately, organizational gains. They are learning from and teaching their colleagues, driving collaboration, and improving their own performance and productivity. As they become superusers of Gen AI, they will help the company move beyond browser behavior and simple search to uncover more effective prompts, discover new use cases, and refine processes. They are building the roadmap to the workforce of 2030, which is on track to be entirely transformed by AI.
For business leaders, the takeaway is clear: curiosity – not technical aptitude – is the most desirable characteristic of the modern workforce. Curiosity sustains engagement, and engagement fuels curiosity. However, hiring for curiosity isn’t the single action. While individual employees’ natural attributes help determine their digital engagement level, it also hinges on the environment they work in. The following are four simple steps CEOs can take to ensure their organization fosters digital engagement:
CEOs must first follow the mantra of building individual skills. Simply put, if a leader isn’t continuously blocking out time to develop new skills, they can’t expect their teams to do so.
Create a culture where failing fast is not only welcome – it’s encouraged and rewarded. Make it safe for employees at all levels and roles to experiment as they learn what works and what doesn’t. Provide employees with the tools, training, and clearly defined guidelines to enable them to chart the path forward in real time. And importantly, encourage employees to communicate their learnings and collaborate with colleagues to help spread best practices – innovation does not happen in a vacuum.
In reality, everyone within an organization should be thinking about and experimenting with emerging technology like Gen AI at work – from receptionist to executive, summer intern to most tenured. Still, CEOs must have a pulse on the employees who are most digitally engaged within their organization. Once this class of forward-thinking employees is identified, leaders should focus on retaining, training, and elevating them.
Rather than trying to boil the ocean, leaders should pinpoint one unique metric they’d like to move at a time. Perhaps there’s a lengthy process that could be streamlined, or a workflow that needs refreshing. CEOs can then apply intentional energy to these processes to gradually make progress across the organization in a meaningful, measurable way.
As we move from AI transition to AI transformation, digitally engaged employees will be the most critical asset for any business. These individuals are poised to become the operators of workplace 2030 and beyond; meanwhile, the disengaged, disinterested, and unwilling to adapt will self-select from AI-dominant workplaces. The CEOs who can nurture employees’ curiosity and tap into their innovation will future-proof their organization not only to withstand but thrive in continued change.
This story first appeared in Inc.