Saying Farewell to Convene

As 2011 ended, I made the decision to attend a Convene Chair training and consider becoming Chair of a peer-based advising team for CEOs and Owners. That training led to launching the Eastern Wisconsin Convene Team in 2013. As this year of the pandemic ends and the crazy-making of the 2020 US presidential election continues into 2021, the leadership of that team shifts to the capable hands of Dennis Humphrey.

 

The Eastern Wisconsin team was established out of a vision for the deeper fabric of faith-centered and ethically-committed CEOs and business owners needed in this region. I believed that at least seven teams of these leaders would be feasible in the greater metroplex stretching from greater Chicago to Milwaukee and up to Green Bay.  That Lake Michigan shoreline has a significant concentration of privately held and family-owned businesses, and so many of those owners come from communities of faith.

 

That vision is largely realized, with teams from Convene and similar providers spreading across the region. This success comes from the collective efforts of so many.  I offer special thanks to Tony Guagliardo and Linda Maris, who supported and believed all along the way.  And even more, my thanks to all the women and men who have made up this team and family, offering wise counsel, prayerful support, and business insight while operating their businesses with excellent business performance and eternal perspective in mind.

 

Along this way I was privileged to become a trainer and mentor within Convene, including for Tim Hoeppner as he assumed his Chair role in Northern Illinois. He now watches over the development of this Lake Michigan region, one of the strongest networks within Convene. I also had opportunity to develop the Convene Consulting Network, yet another gathering of deep experts committed to client-centered process consulting. In this past year a number of these consultants spoke with me about their expertise and business insight in a series of video/audio podcasts, accompanied by discussion guides. We have covered subjects as diverse as hiring practices in a pandemic, Enterprise Operating System (EOS), coaching ethics, organizational governance, market research, executive team development, and pivoting a company’s marketing efforts.

 

This has been a good work among good people.

 

The past years plunged me into significant change including death of a spouse, moving from CEO to a Founder’s role with Design Group International, and remarriage and blending a family.   Finding a peaceful re-set in the middle of this tumult brought deepened perspective and hopefully a wiser and more insightful approach to loving leaders who love leaders.

 

Coming through these changes, I’ve found my heart rests with other Founders and accomplished executives who are facing forward into the long-term future, wanting to make a difference for the grandchildren’s grandchildren that will come.  Out of this desire, Design Group International launched Maestro-level leaders and its supporting podcast as a resource for leaders determined to solve future value, succession, and legacy. If we fill out this vision well, there will be other accomplished Maestro-level cohort leaders with a strong, supporting repository of resources in this extremely under-resourced arena of executive leadership development.

 

May more executives choose against isolation and an all-knowing god complex and find their way to peer-based advising teams like those offered by Convene. And may more accomplished Third Turn leaders take on the vital challenge of building future value for all our grandchildren’s grandchildren.

 

May this be more than words; may it become an infecting desire of the heart out of which we discern and lead.

 

 

-mark l vincent

 

 

 

The next Maestro-level leaders cohort begins at the end of January. Begin the conversation at www.maestrolevelleaders.com.