News Articles

Renaissance Executive Forums oversees roundtable seminars for business leaders

By Paul Grimaldi, NEWS BUSINESS WRITER

"When group members take a turn talking about their own companies they must pose one to three issues on which to get comments from other forum members. Sometimes people will try out upcoming presentations they must give to financiers or others.

In one case, forum members made someone throw out a presentation set for a meeting with venture capitalists. "They stopped him and really constructed a whole new strategy for him," Carlson said. In the end, the executive realized he didn't have to go the venture capital route to get the money he needed. "That's a pretty impressive conclusion to come out of a meeting with," Carlson said."

Executives Find Support in Peer Groups Forums offer CEOs a place to discuss concerns

By HEIDI PRESCOTT, Tribune Staff Writer

Members of the group have developed a friendship, said Marcus, of South Bend Warehouse & Distribution, but "aren't soft on one another.

"When one brings up a tough subject, that person better be able to take tough responses or they are in the wrong group," Marcus said.

"We are fair and respectful to one another, but not necessarily easy," he added. "I use it as a sounding board for different issues that come before me. The knowledge and experience in the room is awesome, and being able to tap into it affords me information that I otherwise would have limited access to."

Board Helps Companies Define Staffing Needs And Hiring Qualifications

By Paula Oros, Special to the Journal

Renaissance Executive Forums helps presidents and owners of small and mid-sized companies solve the very real problems of running a successful business.

A CEO's need for current knowledge and new skills is greater now than it has been at any time in business history. In search of solid and practical solutions to real-life business dilemmas, hundreds of CEOs in over 42 cities nationwide are joining Renaissance Executive Forums advisory boards.

The value of the Renaissance Executive Forums advisory board is that it very quickly lets a member determine his firm's key strengths and also assess where he might be unprotected. The monthly advisory board meeting is usually the only time the person at the top can escape all the interruptions and really focus on the health and future of his company.

Each member gets counsel that will absolutely make him more successful in his business. If a member implements one good idea he gets from his peers on the board, he can earn or save his company hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"An essential element of the group approach is that each member is from a different industry," Cunningham said. "This opens the door to new ideas."

"Each industry develops a paradigm in the way it goes about doing business," Cunningham said. "This happens because everybody is involved in professional or trade organizations . . . Because of this paradigm there are no fresh ideas, but when I put you in a group with executives from other industries who are operating from their paradigms, they see your business differently. They know what you don't know."

Forums Give Execs Outside Views

"It is a forum of peers where you can get streetwise information," Waterman said. "People have to be proactive in business today, the world is changing so quickly."

"Those who sit back will be eating dust. When we come together, you have to decide if you're going to be making dust or eating dust."

"A couple of times a year, we look for new members," Waterman said. "I'd like to add two or three people to this group."

"The power behind the service is leveraging the collective experience of the group and bringing it to focus on individual issues," says Bastarache. "We have everyone from a window washing business to a biomedical research firm. Everyone has human resource issues and marketing issues to deal with. Eight out of 10 problems are common to everyone."

Life at the top can be lonely for chief executives on whose shoulders these conundrums rest. CEOs, bound by corporate bylaws or privacy considerations, often cannot rely on fellow executives or employees to help them make tough judgment calls.

So Castello got some outside help.

A trusted group of advisors recommended the successful strategy of hiring a savvy human resources professional who helped galvanize Xoma's PHD's and MBA's alike.

For the advice, Castello didn't write a check, he wrote a thank you note.

Castello's advisors are not paid consultants or senior managers. They are fellow members of Renaissance Executive Forums, the chief executives from major corporations in non-competing industries meet once a month to help each other tackle business issues.

This informal board of directors gives new meaning to the expression "sounding board."

"No matter what topic you bring up, you get useful information and results from the discussions," Castello said. "These are experienced, creative guys you can trust."

Local Executives Get Forum To Help Exchange Ideas

Georgene Waterman, facilitator of the Davis Renaissance Executive Forums, says businesses must "be able to respond to all changes around them. I'm hoping we can bring that to the Davis community."

Waterman said the idea of executive forums dates back to the 1930s. She added that people who join such forums often spend much of their time improving their business, not just working in it.

Executives Have New Forum To Gain The Winning Edge Over Competition

By Jim Janseen, The Press-Tribune

"The forums act as a board of directors," Waterman said. "It's a place where executives can test new ideas and solutions so they can run their business. We call it getting out of the box, out of box thinking. You can do that when you sit with people from outside your own company so you can get fresh ideas."

"They help keep executives current on business trends," Waterman said. "Business is changing quickly. If you don't surround yourself with a constant stream of fresh ideas you may not be in a business much longer. You have to get out of the box."

System Offers Time-pressed Executives Sounding Board

Where does an executive go to air a volatile situation, such as a merger, personnel problem, contract failure or bankruptcy?

Attorneys are happy to listen, and can offer some options, but they may not have been in executive shoes and don't delve into the complexities that executives and business owners face.

Families are sympathetic, but offer no qualified direction.

How about a board of interested executives willing to cut to the point?

That's the basis for Renaissance Executive Forums, a national franchised organization working its way into the north state. Month after month, these executives meet. It's a safe place to talk. They can't do that with employees or a consultant.

An agenda for every meeting is a good way to maintain control and focus on goals.

"Renaissance Executive Forums use an agenda to keep members on track and avoid having one member's topics dominate the entire session," Seringa says.

Once an issue is discussed or a member mentions something he or she wants to accomplish, the advisory board should require progress.

"If a member says at one meeting that he wants to develop a marketing plan, then by the next meeting, the board wants to see the rough draft," he says.