Latest / Executive Careers with Fexingo: VP, C-Suite, and Senior Leadership Career Strategy / How Senior Leaders Use Peer Councils to Accelerate Their Careers
Transcript
- Lucas: There's a tool that a lot of senior leaders use, but almost no one talks about publicly. It's the peer council — a small, confidential group of executives from non-competing companies who meet regularly to pressure-test decisions and give each other unfiltered feedback. Luna: Peer council — I've heard that term thrown around in C-suite circles, but I've never really understood how they operate. Is it like a mastermind group for executives? Lucas: That's one way to think about it, but the best ones are more structured than the typical mastermind. Typically you have six to eight people, all at a similar level — say, all VPs or all C-suite. They meet every month or every quarter, and the conversation is governed by strict confidentiality. What's said in the room stays in the room. Luna: And the key is they're from non-competing companies, right? So you can actually share sensitive information without risking competitive advantage. Lucas: Exactly. That's the whole point. If you're a CFO at a mid-size tech company, you don't want the CFO from your direct competitor in the room. But you do want someone who understands the same challenges — revenue recognition, fundraising, board dynamics — from a different industry or geography. Luna: Give me a concrete example. I'm trying to picture how this actually plays out. Lucas: Sure. I know a CFO at a publicly traded logistics company — let's call her Sarah. She was facing a decision about whether to acquire a smaller last-mile delivery startup. The deal looked good on paper, but she had nagging doubts about the cultural integration. She brought it to her peer council. Luna: And they knew her company well enough to give useful advice? Lucas: They didn't need to know every detail of her business. But they knew her — her risk tolerance, her leadership style, her history with acquisitions. One member said, 'Sarah, you've talked about culture in every deal you've done, and it's always been a secondary concern. Why is it different this time?' That question forced her to articulate her real hesitation. She realized the acquisition target had a very different management philosophy, and she wasn't sure she could bridge it. Luna: So the council helped her surface something she hadn't fully articulated even to herself. Lucas: Right. She ended up restructuring the deal terms to include a longer earn-out and a cultural integration plan upfront. The acquisition closed a year ago, and she says that council conversation was the single most influential moment in the process. Without it, she might have walked away from a good deal, or worse, rushed into a bad one. Luna: That's a powerful outcome. But I wonder — how do you even find a peer council? It's not like there's a directory. Lucas: There isn't, and that's deliberate. The best councils are invitation-only. Some are formed through executive education programs — like if you go through a Harvard or Stanford senior leadership program, you might stay in touch with a handful of classmates and formalize the group. Others emerge from industry associations or even from working with an executive coach who helps connect you with peers. Luna: So it's about leveraging existing networks, but being intentional about it. Lucas: Exactly. And there's a skill to recruiting the right people. You don't want only people who think like you. You want diversity of perspective — different industries, different functional backgrounds, different personality types. One council I know specifically recruited a COO from manufacturing, a CMO from consumer goods, and a CEO from a nonprofit, because each brought a completely different lens. Luna: That diversity must create some tension though. Isn't there a risk that the group becomes an echo chamber if everyone's too friendly? Lucas: It can happen. The safeguard is to build in some friction deliberately. Some councils rotate the facilitator role so no one dominates. Some have a rule that every meeting, at least one member has to present a problem they're stuck on, and the rest have to play devil's advocate. The CFO I mentioned — Sarah — her council has a 'red team' protocol where for ten minutes, everyone argues against whatever proposal you bring, even if they agree with it. Luna: That's a great structural fix. So the value isn't just getting advice — it's getting challenged in a way your direct reports or board members can't or won't. Lucas: That's exactly it. Your board is evaluating you. Your team reports to you. Your spouse loves you. None of them can give you the kind of raw, disinterested feedback a peer council can. And the best part is, it works both ways — you also get to see other people's problems and realize your own challenges aren't unique. Luna: That's probably a huge relief for senior leaders who often feel isolated at the top. Lucas: Immense relief. I've heard executives say their peer council is the one place they can admit uncertainty without worrying about their stock price or their reputation inside the company. It's a professional sanctuary. Luna: So if a senior leader listening to this wants to start a peer council, what's the first step? Lucas: Start by reaching out to four or five people you already respect, who are at a similar career stage, and who work in different industries. Pitch it as a quarterly one-hour call — no agenda, just a conversation about what's on your mind. If the chemistry works, you can formalize it. The biggest mistake I see is trying to over-engineer it from day one. Let the group find its own rhythm. Luna: And what about ground rules? Do you need to write a charter or something? Lucas: You need at least two rules: confidentiality is absolute, and no selling. No one is there to pitch their services or recruit. Beyond that, keep it simple. My advice is to agree on a meeting cadence and a basic format — maybe a check-in round, then one deep-dive on a member's challenge, then open discussion. Over time, the group will evolve its own norms. Luna: I like that it's low-friction. No complicated agenda, no formal membership. Lucas: Exactly. And the ROI is enormous. Think about it: you get eight experienced executives thinking about your toughest problem for an hour. That's eight hours of collective brainpower. No consultant can match that for the price of a coffee. Luna: Speaking of coffee — and I know this is a bit of a pivot — but if this episode has helped you think about your own career strategy, there's a way to support the show that keeps it ad-free and independent. It's a small gesture, but it makes a big difference for us. Lucas: Yeah, we keep the show free of sponsors so we can talk about exactly what we think is useful, without any corporate influence. If you've gotten value from episodes like this one on peer councils, you can support us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: That's right. And honestly, every contribution helps us keep doing the research and bringing you these concrete examples. We really appreciate it. Lucas: Alright, back to peer councils. One more thing I want to mention: some organizations are now formalizing peer councils internally. They'll create cross-functional groups of senior leaders who don't normally work together. I've seen this at companies like Microsoft and Procter & Gamble, where high-potential VPs are placed into peer groups that meet monthly with a trained facilitator. Luna: So companies are starting to recognize the value and institutionalizing it. Lucas: Yes. But even if your company doesn't have that, you can create your own. And if you're a senior leader who feels stuck, or like you're making big decisions in a vacuum, finding or forming a peer council might be the single most impactful career move you make this year. Luna: I love that. It's actionable, it's low-cost, and it addresses one of the biggest pain points of senior leadership: isolation. Lucas: Exactly. So if you're on the fence, start with one person. Invite them to a conversation. See where it goes. You might be surprised how many of your peers are craving the same thing.