Small business owners.

CEOs.

Executives.

Leaders.

Whether you're a #1 or a #2 or a team leader...surrounding yourself with others who are like you is one of THE most powerful learning, understanding and growing tools you can find.

Business people in every role, up and down the authority chain, benefit from being around others who are like them in the role. Simultaneously, they benefit from being around people who are dramatically different from them.

Peers - The Common Ground

This is where it begins. The peer advantage requires the right peers. Where's the common ground? Can the culture created by these people fuel you in the best ways possible? And can it challenge you, too where you'll surrender to how uncomfortable it may be for you - but you hang in there because you know it's for your best?

Companies like YPO, Vistage, Entrepreneur's Organization and a host of others operating all over the world provide extraordinary value to members intent on L.U.G. (learning, understanding and growing). They put people in rooms together where all the people share one common thing - the role they serve. CEOs with CEOs. COOs with COOs. CMOs with CMOs. It's the whole "birds of a feather" deal. This is where it all must begin.

It's important that everybody in the room - physical or otherwise - relate to what they're doing in their respective organizations. You may have heard me refer to a group that nobody wants to qualify to join - Parents of Murdered Children. It's a dramatic illustration though, which is why I use it. If you're unfortunate to qualify to join that group, is there a more powerful group on the planet where you can go to instantly have everybody else in the room know exactly what you're doing through? No. That common ground is imperative.

Peers - The Diversity

Every parent of a murdered child has their own unique context. Their stories are insanely personal. They come from every corner of society. They don't need to share educational backgrounds, financial well-being or anything else. The one commonality is so strong it binds them together. Their diversity - their individual context and experiences - is the value!

Diversity can scare us. Don't let it. Embrace the truth that you know what you know. It's what you don't know that can help you. That's where others sharing their stories can benefit you like nothing else.

The common ground fosters safety and trust. The diversity fosters the deep conversations and sharing experiences where we find growth. You have to have both or there's no value.

Vulnerability - It's A Must

Don't even think of joining a peer advisory group if you're not willing to show your underwear. This is not an opportunity for you to always be on, trying to make every moment an Instagram moment. You'll derive no benefit if you're busy trying to impress and constantly judging yourself against the others in the room. This isn't a contest designed for you to win - or lose. Not based on appearances or false / vanity measurements. It's about growing your business, your leadership and your life.

Can you listen deeply enough to understand?

Can you pay close attention to what others say and be curious enough to seek an understanding of what they really mean?

Can you be thoughtful enough to fully participate with all the others? To help them and perhaps more importantly for some, to be helped? (That's vulnerability. To stop acting like you know everything you need to know. It's fine - no, it's mandatory - if you're going to grow. And if you're not intent on growing, then why are even in such a group? Get out. Stop wasting everybody's time.)

The Answer Isn't Complicated

You should join a peer advantage group because there...