Holding the Business Owner Accountable Branded An insider's guide to small-business marketing. As a business owner, I find the ability to call the shots and set the direction both intoxicating and, occasionally, angst-provoking. My two- to three-page list of tasks morphs weekly as things get crossed off and new projects are added - but there are some tasks that just seem to stick around. They represent decisions and commitments I need to make, but they are always there, staring back at me. Part of the problem, of course, is that there's no one to tell me that if I don't get those tasks done, it's going to affect my annual review. After all, I am the one giving me a deadline or ultimatum, and I have found that I can almost always cajole myself into an extension or distract myself with another "look over there!" But this seems to be changing. As I have explained in my last two posts, I recently decided to join Vistage. Every month I meet with our group chair, Bill LaRosa, and we start the meeting with an assessment of what's going on. We establish action items that are to be completed in the next 30 days, things that I have concluded, with Bill's input, are a good resolution to my challenges. Other action items we tackle are about committing to annual goals and plans, and developing incremental steps in order to reach my long-term goals. I have yet to learn the repercussions of failing to complete planning items that I have promised. I suspect the response would be similar to the fish eye a personal trainer might give you for wimping out on your lunges and blaming it on a trick elbow. But it's worse than that. It's allowing someone else to see you letting yourself down. That always stings more than failing solo. But it's not just about getting the stern face from Bill - think Robert De Niro in the Untouchables - if I haven't completed my action items. It's about having consistent reinforcement that, yes, these items are vitally important to getting my business where I want it to go. Having this reinforcement and being held accountable is, surprisingly, very liberating. It turns out that accepting the guidance of others who have run businesses successfully builds confidence. It lets me shift the weight of figuring it all out on my own. Every month we meet as a group. I believe we are up to 14 business owners now, all with complementary businesses that span industries from electronics recycling to environmental consulting and software creation and sales. Each meeting, we reserve the afternoon to process pressing business situations that a member may bring to the table. Sometimes the issue is a bit murky, and the group helps frame what the real issue is. What I was struck with, after last month's all-day session, was how the challenges that rattle us most are those with the human element. We deal with people problems, relationship issues, legal issues, growth opportunities, exit strategies, short-term and long-term planning, money (taken, as well as given), structure, health and more. Nothing is off the table. Reality TV has nothing on business owners. As these issues and opportunities are processed, the sessions always end with other group members giving feedback, and finally, the business owner with the issue committing to a course of action. A peer group is a powerful motivator. It's serious stuff to commit to doing something publicly in front of people you respect. You cannot not follow through with what you committed to doing in front of your group without risking their respect. When making big business decisions, we all know we need to take a 360 approach, looking at all of the angles. But we all have blind spots that are a result of on our own behavior and value systems. Missteps often happen when we assume, without consciously processing it, that others have the same value systems we do. When I listened to other business owners talk about their challenges, I had to resist the urge to jump over the table and point up what my fellow members may not have considered - the misplaced trust, the potholes full of muddy, festering water that c0uld endanger their businesses. Then it struck me that their blind spots are mine, too. What a difference standing on the outside can make for clarity and perspective. I'm thankful to those business owners who make themselves vulnerable by sharing their challenges. The unexpected collateral is a very valuable gift. MP Mueller is the founder of Door Number 3, a boutique advertising agency in Austin, Tex. Follow Door Number 3 on Facebook.