After attending a three-week Harvard Business School conference that allowed him to share experiences and seek advice from 180 other chief executives from around the globe, Don Peschke was eager to find a similar sounding board in Iowa.

A year and a half ago, Peschke, the founder of August Home Publishing in Des Moines, joined a hand-picked group of Central Iowa CEOs who meet monthly to bounce issues off each other that they could never discuss with their subordinates. The group, TEC International, is an invitation-only CEO development organization whose members include more than 8,000 chief executives on six continents.

“I decided this was a great opportunity to continue to learn,” said Peschke. “You bring up an issue, and you’ve got 15 other CEOs encouraging you, sometimes on your case, saying, ‘OK, you brought this up as an issue, what are you going to do about it now?’”

TEC is one of a growing number of CEO roundtable organizations available to executives in Central Iowa. Next week, Software & Information Technology of Iowa’s CEO roundtable, which has about 70 members, will begin its second program year. And in early October, the Iowa Small Business Development Center plans to launch a CEO roundtable with up to a dozen select members in what it hopes will be a pilot program for a handful of future roundtables throughout the state.

Other programs have been around longer. Jensen Consulting has two established groups with 14 executives in each, and is considering expanding to a third next year. Meanwhile, the Entrepreneurs’ Organization, which formed a local roundtable in 1999 as the Young Entrepreneurs Association, currently has 25 members divided among three groups.

Outside of Iowa, a Minnesota-based program called SuccessXchange connects CEOs within industry-specific groups in different cities through regular teleconferences. Though the organization has not yet recruited any Iowa executives, it offers a free first-year membership to the first CEO in a particular business to form a new industry group.

Each of the organizations has its own membership eligibility rules, which can range from the size of the company to the attitude of the CEO.



EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS

Terry Slinde, a former Lutheran minister who founded the Iowa TEC group in February 2001 and serves as its facilitator, said a “Level 5” leader – referring to a blend of humility and fierce resolve described by “Good to Great” author Jim Collins — is the type of CEO he looks for when he screens prospective members.

“Our leaders are different,” said Slinde, whose members lead companies ranging from $5 million to $75 million in revenues. “They’re not necessarily as big into ego as they are about growing their company. If someone comes in and they sense that they don’t know what they don’t know, they cut them off very quickly.”

TEC’s daylong meeting format typically includes a world-class speaker in the morning, followed by a roundtable discussion centered on an issue brought forward by one of the members.

“It’s exceeded my expectations, but differently than I thought it would have worked,” said Kathy Myers, president of Innova Training & Consulting Inc. in Des Moines, who has been in the group for several years.

“I thought it would be more impersonal, that it would be accessing the same kind of management information you get from other sources, but with a group to talk it over with and time to focus on it,” Myers said. “But it was more than that, much more of a facilitation of what each member knows as well as what outside sources know, which has turned out to be a lot more valuable because it comes from direct experiences … It gives you a huge sense of perspective.”

CONFIDENTIAL SETTING

Because CEO roundtable members discuss confidential information, each of the groups has ground rules for ensuring that sensitive information stays within the group. Entrepreneurs’ Organization, for instance, uses smaller discussion groups for members to discuss issues such as potential mergers, acquisitions, buy-outs of partners and a number of other strategic issues, said John Kenworthy, vice president of Storey Kenworthy and EO’s president.

“Having a format to share experiences in a confidential setting helps me in both my growth and professional development,” said Kenworthy, whose organization limits membership to CEOs, presidents or owners of at least million-dollar companies who are younger than 45. “It’s just an experience as an executive that you can’t get anywhere else. Typically, there’s someone in the organization who’s had an experience I can learn and grow from.”

EO’s Des Moines chapter is one of 120 chapters the organization operates in 60 cities worldwide, with a total membership exceeding 5,000 people. Kenworthy said growth is one of his chapter’s goals.

“In our five-year plan we’d like to see our membership grow to about 50 members; we’d like to add five to 10 members each year,” he said. “As you grow, it creates economies of scale and the ability to conduct bigger and better events, so there is some value to the membership in growing.”

For those who carry the job title of president and are leading a company with at least 50 employees that has sales of $8 million or more annually, the Young Presidents’ Organization may be for them, said Mark Clark, president of Electronic Engineering in Des Moines and education chairman of YPO’s Iowa chapter.

“We actively look for people who meet the qualifying standards,” Clark said. “A lot of us think we are better people because of it, and want to share in their knowledge and experience.” The chapter, which currently has 65 members, dates back to the early 1970s, he said. Those who qualify must request admission prior to their 45th birthday, and age out of the organization at 50.

“One of our monikers is that ‘we’re better presidents through education,’” said Clark, who noted that members have heard from speakers such as a military analyst who provided an insider’s view of the Iraq war.

As more roundtables emerge, the increased competition will be a positive force, said Russell Jensen, owner of Jensen Consulting. Jensen said he identified a need for an executive forum 10 years ago while working for a public accounting firm, and brought the concept he developed with him when he launched his own company.

“I think it’s a good thing that there are more opportunities for business owners to get into roundtables, that they can spend time learning more from their peers,” Jensen said. “As far as differences in groups, it really comes down to fit, what fits into their schedule, their resources. I’ve had folks move from my roundtable to other roundtables, and vice versa, and I think that’s good.”

Though Jensen’s half-day, monthly meetings are similar to TEC’s format in that they’re built around one or two members’ issues, Jensen said his group is less oriented toward action plans and demanding accountability than TEC.

“I’ve experimented with that from time to time, and I’ve just found a more effective environment (from open discussion),” he said. “But (the members) do a great job in challenging each other. We just kind of steer clear of mechanisms.”

Marte Cook, president of Stetson Building Products, said participating in Jensen Consulting’s roundtable is “almost like having an outside board of directors.”

“We get to the meat of the matter,” he said. “Businesses may have different names and serve different sectors of the Des Moines economy, but there are so many things that we share: the same problems, issues and employee situations, and that’s what I like about it.”

MORE ROUNDTABLES POSSIBLE

Another CEO roundtable now forming may eventually serve as a “feeder system” for roundtables such as Jensen’s and TEC, said Lars Peterson, associate state director for the Iowa SBDC. Peterson said the SBDC is currently soliciting applications from CEOs for a pilot group that it plans to launch in October.

“A lot of the companies will be in the $1 million to $10 million range, though we do go up a little higher than that,” Peterson said. “We’re not going after the mid-sized to large companies; it’s going to be specifically focused on the small companies and their issues. I don’t think realistically there will be a lot of $30 million or $40 million companies. If there were, we would probably refer them to TEC or Jensen.”

The SBDC roundtable, which will be held in the Des Moines area, will consist primarily of Central Iowa companies within about an hour’s drive of Des Moines.

“The goal is to have more than 10 to 12 companies apply so that we can create the mix we want,” said Peterson, who said the response so far has been “excellent.” The group of up to a dozen CEOs will be screened to build a group of leaders of non-competing companies that are growth-oriented, he said.

The SBDC is offering the roundtable through a cooperative agreement with the Edward Lowe Foundation, a Michigan-based non-profit that assists established entrepreneurial companies and agencies that work with small businesses.

“We’re just doing this one pilot roundtable with (the foundation), and then hope to reach an agreement with them to do a statewide roundtable (made up of several regional groups),” Peterson said. “We see a real need for these in rural areas as much as in Des Moines. And there aren’t as many options in rural areas as there are in Des Moines for people to turn to for roundtables.”

Another roundtable organization specializes in grouping owners and CEOs within the same industry, but who are located in different cities. Based in Northfield, Minn., SuccessXchange, founded in 2002, operates roundtables for both profit- and non-profit organizations. It currently has a group of technology executives and city administrators that meet regularly by teleconference, and is forming groups for ministers and CEOs of utility companies.

The ability to share concerns with peers within the same industry is the biggest advantage SuccessXchange has compared with other roundtable groups, said Scott Davis, the organization’s executive director.

“It’s really hard if one guy owns a restaurant, another owns a health club and another has a technology company,” Davis said. “With our groups, they’re all in the same boat. If there’s a new technology within the industry, they can all learn from that.”

The industry groups range from 10 to 12 members who decide on a regular schedule of teleconferences that typically last about an hour, led by a facilitator, he said. Another advantage of membership is access to the group’s industry-specific Web log, which provides a daily summary of headlines by topic in a members-only section daily, Davis said.

SPEAKING OF TECHNOLOGY

Another format used by technology companies across the country inspired the industry group Software and Information Technology of Iowa to make a CEO roundtable one of its member benefits a year ago.

“It has been very successful in other parts of the country,” said Leann Jacobson, president of SITI. “The idea behind this is that (CEOs) can plug into monthly seminars to share common challenges, lessons learned. It is exclusive to the CEO level to build a sense of affinity.”

Currently, about 70 CEOs from across Iowa are signed up for the roundtable series, which SITI also makes available to non-member technology CEOs on a fee basis. The members are divided into a small-employer group for companies with under 15 employees and a large-company group for those with 15 or more employees.

I think it’s a good program,” said Jose Laracuente, CEO and president of DMI Computer Technologies in Ankeny. “It’s a good opportunity to network and to learn from each other. It really is a nice atmosphere for developing camaraderie with your peers.”

The topics discussed might address the latest research and development tax credits available, or strategies that technology companies are using to cope with rising health-care costs, he said. Because some of the companies may be competitors, one of the ground rules is that proprietary issues are not discussed.

Designed to be a learning mechanism, the meetings can also serve as a format for networking with peers, and may lead to collaborative projects down the road, Laracuente said.

Belonging to the roundtable “doesn’t mean necessarily that you’re going to increase your sales,” he said. “I think it helps you validate your business practices, and to learn how other CEOs may have handled a difficult situation.”

Similarly, Peschke said he believes his TEC colleagues in Greater Des Moines are more focused on people issues than the bottom line, even though the international organization boasts that its members on average more than double their companies’ revenues after joining the roundtable.

“In my case, I haven’t (doubled revenues),” Peschke said. “But I don’t judge the value of TEC by increase in revenues or profits. One of my biggest things was development in the company and how to approach learning in the organization. I was talking about it, but I wasn’t necessarily doing it, and they kind of got me on track to follow up.”

The resulting benefit to his company has been “dramatic,” he said.

“I wanted professional development, and the people in the company wanted their levels raised; so there has been a big economic development on the company.” Others in his group have seen similar results, Peschke said.

“What’s really showing up is that the companies have improved, and the people within them have had an opportunity to grow, including the CEO.”