Sponsored content by Damen Wolcott, Brand Ave. Studios contributing writer | October 25, 2023 | buffalonews.com
Quote: Kevin Nephew, President & CEO at Seneca Gaming Corporation said “This is an excellent program and am proud to participate.”
(Photo above provided by Buffalo Niagara Partnership)
Even CEOs need sounding boards. Yet, when business executives and emerging leaders encounter a challenge, they often feel they must go it alone.
“Sometimes it can be lonely at the top,” said Gary Siddall, president and CEO of the Aquarium of Niagara. “As a CEO, you lack the opportunity to have candid, peer-level conversations and share ideas and insights, talk about best practices and, frankly, address what’s not working so well in an organization.”
In response to this expressed pain point from many in the local business community, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership created three unique exchange programs. Each offers a marketplace of ideas and actionable solutions for business leaders across the spectrum of experience and industries.
The programs include the Executive Exchange designed for the C-suite, the Leader Exchange for mid-level managers looking to develop their skills, and the DEI Executive Exchange for professionals working in the diversity equity and inclusion space.
A mingling of masterminds
The BNP’s Exchange programs have been wildly popular, with more than 90 businesses participating in one or more of the exchanges.
Each Exchange group is a peer advisory council, where leaders can discuss challenges and opportunities within their own business. Professional facilitators help these leaders take the ideas and turn them into actions that help their individual business focus on what’s most critical to their business strategy. Often described as mastermind groups, this form of peer-to-peer learning is extremely effective and time and cost efficient.
The first of the programs, the Executive Exchange was created a decade ago. It was in response to feedback from local business leaders about the need for a venue that allowed for confidential conversations and the opportunity to share best practices.
Siddall has been attending monthly meetings with the BNP’s Executive Exchange for three years.
“The challenges that are put forth between one another, as peers, pushes you to think differently,” Siddall said. “We talk all the time about accountability for ourselves but also report back to the group.”
Cultivating talent
In seeking feedback from top-level business executives, it became clear that growing talent and creating a new generation of skilled C-suite-type employees in the region was a priority, according to Dottie Gallagher, the BNP’s CEO. The Leadership Exchange was born out of that need.
Like the Executive Exchange, the Leadership Exchange is a peer-to-peer network. It offers ascending leaders a playbook for navigating managerial challenges and a path to career growth.
The program is geared toward professionals with at least seven years of experience who have some experience supervising employees.
The newest of the programs, the DEI Executive Exchange is for full-time practitioners working in the ascending DEI field.
“Professionals who are focused on the DEI field really need to learn from each other,” Gallagher said. “They are the ones who are teaching and leading the organizations on these key issues. They are constantly being consulted for advice and guidance, and what our exchange does is offer a space where these DEI leaders can come together and say what’s working and what challenges they are confronting.”
Gallagher touted the Exchange Programs for their organic growth. Each of the programs serves the BNP’s primary goal of creating jobs and growing investment in the region.
“All the programing we do, all the convening we do as an organization, is in response to needs that have been articulated by the private sector, and this is based on input from for-profit and nonprofit players,” Gallagher said. “The better we can support developing leaders in our community, the better our community is going to be.”
The annual cohort will begin in January 2024. To apply, visit thepartnership.org.
