Last week I was talking to a local entrepreneur about peer groups. This particular entrepreneur has built a multi-million dollar revenue business with dozens of employees after years of high growth. Now, the business is much larger than him and he’s spending more time as a business manager, and less as a scrappy, growth-oriented entrepreneur. He wants to scale to the next level, and is looking for a peer group to share ideas and grow as a leader.
My recommendation was to consider the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) and the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), both of which have been immensely valuable to me. In addition to strong programming and networking, the heart of each organization is the small group (usually eight members) forum experience. Forums meet monthly for four hours in a setting of strict confidence and high commitment. The confidentiality is serious — nobody, nothing, never.
Forums often have a consistent agenda:
- Opening
- Lightning round
- Short questions for every person in the group to answer
- Monthly updates (10 – 15 minutes per person, inclusive of questions)
- Business
- Last 30 days
- Highlights
- Lowlights
- Next 30 days
- Most looking forward to
- Least looking forward to
- Last 30 days
- Family
- Last 30 days
- Highlights
- Lowlights
- Next 30 days
- Most looking forward to
- Least looking forward to
- Last 30 days
- Personal
- Last 30 days
- Highlights
- Lowlights
- Next 30 days
- Most looking forward to
- Least looking forward to
- Last 30 days
- Business
- Presentations
- Member does a deep dive on a topic, the groups asks questions, the group shares experiences, and the presenting member closes with any takeaways
- Closing
A small group of people committed to helping each other and meeting on a regular basis is one of the most powerful things I’ve ever experienced.
Entrepreneurs would do well to seek out a peer group like EO or YPO. For me, it’s made a tremendous impact.
David Cummings on Startups 
Timely posting…we (my Forum) have been focused on how to build a sustainable forum….I posted the following on LI recently and share it here.
I think the traditional, basic forum approach is dated..so we upgraded and enhanced the process to increase the overall forum experience for all members.
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As an entrepreneur and business leader, I have been in a Forum (#EO and #YPO) for the past 20 year, and fortunately, I have been in a great forum for the past 16 years. Over that time, we have learned the challenges sustaining a forum and continued to evolve. As such, I have created some information and a presentation on the current process we use to manage and execute a highly functional forum. This is a evolution over the traditional (and stale) approach of the traditional YPO forum.
If you are in a forum that is dying or lacks the energy to last a lifetime, then check out this information. If you are NOT familiar with a forum and a business leader, it is definitely recommended (reasons are included in the presentation).
Please share with anyone you know that is in a Forum and would be interested.
https://www.ronhollis.net/forum-for-the-future/
Thanks, Ron. This is excellent. I like how you mix in-person and virtual meetings combined with more retreats and accountability.