“I've gone from being a CEO, to becoming a leader.”

Jason Sandberg

Partner | CEO

Pappe Companies, Inc.

After 20 years of running various parts of a company and the last 6 years as the CEO, I recognized that I hit a plateau in my career.  While my company was still very successful, I wanted to start developing more talent and leadership within in my company to grow and take my company to the next level.  In order to do this, it required me to take my leadership to new levels.  This is where Vistage fits in so well for me.  I didn’t exactly know it at the time, but a group of people in similar roles as mine to bounce ideas off of, hear of other leader’s experiences, and a group to be held accountable to really helps motivate me.  It can be very lonely “at the top” and Vistage helped take that feeling away by having this group to lean on and know others are going through similar challenges as me.  The format for issue resolution works well and has already helped me navigate some tough issues.  On top that, the one-to-one meetings with the Vistage Chair (Tom Ferraro) helps keep the momentum in between the Vistage meetings and he asks the right questions at the right time that get me thinking differently of my challenges and possible solutions.  The one-to-one meetings have just as much value in development for me as the group meetings as they add a little bit of a personal touch where my development/challenges are the focus for those two hours.   Last, but not least, as a Vistage member, it gives me an opportunity to help other leaders.  It is important to me that this group is a two-way relationship as I want to be able to use my experience to help others because after all, that is an important trait of a good leader, so in Vistage I am practicing while I am learning.