CEO Leadership Insights - March 2026

“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence;

it is to act with yesterday’s logic.”

Dr. Peter Drucker

1909-2005

Author of “The Practice of Management” and “Innovation and Entrepreneurship”

Is Your Price Right?

One of the most important, and often feared decisions that C-Level Executives must make is around pricing of their offerings.  The risk is that the company either gives an edge to a competitor or leaves money on the table. 

Vistage speaker and strategy consultant Marc Emmer notes that “Over the last 5 years, Vistage members have navigated a level of volatility few of us could have imagined. We have experienced a global pandemic, supply chain breakdowns, labor shortages and wage spikes, inflation, and a chaotic round of tariffs. Pricing has been a moving target.”

Executives must be adaptable, and courageous on pricing (and almost everything else) in environments that are increasingly unpredictable.  Mr. Emmer offers 7 strategies in his recent article on the Vistage website “CEO’s Playbook for Adaptive Pricing.”

Pricing is one of the few levers CEOs control directly - and one of the easiest to mishandle in volatile markets. Mr. Emmer will help you adapt and succeed in this challenging environment

Success at Succession: Steve and Tim

If you could look up the term “hard act to follow” in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and his successor Tim Cook. It’s hard to believe that Steve Jobs passed away 15 years ago and that current CEO Tim Cook has been at Apple for almost 30 years.

The late Mr. Jobs has the type of enduring status that only titans like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk enjoy. But if, as Peter Drucker says, succession is the most important job of the CEO, Mr. Jobs picked the right person.

Apple has performed exceptionally well under Tim Cook, with revenue, profit, and market value all multiplying several times since he became CEO in 2011. The company’s market cap grew from roughly $350 billion to nearly $2.5 trillion in Cook’s first decade, and Apple continues to sit near the top of global market‑cap rankings.

Mr. Cook took a big career risk in joining the nearly bankrupt Apple in 1997 and reporting to a boss who even then was a both an entrepreneurial legend and challenging person to whom to report. But Mr. Cook’s contributions speak for themselves. I hope you’ll get to know him a little better in this interview, both as a CEO and a person in which he shares “what he learned from Steve Jobs about the power of FOCUS and SIMPLICITY.”

And to add a little perspective, Apple recently celebrated a half century. Check out this short video from the CBS Sunday Morning Show: Apple: The First 50 Years.

Succession planning is rarely clean, but Cook’s example shows the power of choosing for temperament, not charisma.

Is Your AI Assistant Really Assisting You?

AI can be a force multiplier — or a liability. Vistage Speaker and AI security expertMike Foster warns that threat actors can manipulate your AI assistant to work for them. In the C‑suite, the risk is amplified, perhaps exponentially.

Find out why Mr. Foster warns “Why Your AI Assistant Might Be Working for Someone Else"

Note: A reminder to Vistage members only, check out the Vistage Artificial Intelligence Network

Econ Recon:

A Petro Primer:  The war in Iran has everyone, consumers, and business alike focused on the economics of oil in general and how one narrow body of water can have a remarkable effect on supply and price.  Brian Wesbury offers an excellent one page primer on Hormuz, Oil Flows, and the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Persistent Inflation:  Lauren Saidel-Baker of ITR Economics looks at persistent inflation and the tie into oil supply issues due to the Iranian conflict in her most recent Fed Watch and why a rate cut this year is less probable.

A Note from Scott:

Friends,

As you navigate these chaotic times, who are you turning to for advice?

Why not ask successful, growth-minded CEOs and senior executives what they've tried? What has worked, and what hasn't worked for them?

My CEO peer advisory group provides a confidential forum where 18 high-performing, non-competing business owners share their experience, identify blind spots, and hold each other accountable.

As a result, members grow faster, are more profitable, and have less stress.

Contact me if you are interested in exploring membership in our group. Typical members are growth-minded CEOs/business owners in southeastern New England with revenues between $10 million and $200 million.

Don't go it alone. Don't suffer from being 'lonely at the top'. Contact me to see if you'd be a fit with this group.

Warm regards,

Scott