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The highest-impact career decision I ever made
I’m a different person than before.
Michael Girdley
March 15, 2025
Hey Girdleyworld!
Today, a topic near and dear to my heart:
How joining a peer group changed my life.
It’s probably the highest-impact career decision I’ve ever made.
P.S. I’m writing about this topic today because my SMB leadership community Scalepath is launching a new cohort of peer groups. More details below!
What exactly IS a peer group?
If you’re at a big company, you have access to a board of directors to provide guidance and act as partners in your business.
But as a small business CEO, a lot of the time you’re on your own.
A CEO peer group fixes that.
It’s a group of people who are running businesses (owners or hired guns), and they function as your virtual board of directors: people you can bounce ideas off of, get feedback, and who are on the same journey as you.
There are lots of different formats:
Online only
Industry-specific
Location-specific
Interest-based
Some are even faith-based
The point is finding a good fit for you.
How I got started
My peer group story starts in 2013.
I had been a CEO for about 6 years and knew I wanted to do something more… I just didn’t know what.
And I knew there were a lot of things that I didn’t know I didn’t know — the unknown unknown.
I wanted exposure to those things.
One day I got introduced to a business coach named Tom Cuthbert, who told me about the concept of a peer group.
He was starting to run these peer groups as his full-time job.
Obviously he had a horse in this race, and I’m a pretty dubious person, so I went to go investigate it myself.
I asked around about Vistage, EO, Tab, all sorts of different groups. (Those are generally the big names.)
I was surprised to hear a lot of mixed reviews: some people totally loved them, and others not so much.
I would ask them, “what made the difference for you?”
Universally, the people that loved peer groups went in:
Totally open
Invested in improving themselves
Humble, coachable, and open to feedback
Listened closely and leaned into what was going on in the room
That’s the only way you’re going to get maximum return on your time and money.
So I gave it a shot — and ended up being a member of Tom’s group for years.
It totally changed my life, and enabled me to do things that weren’t possible before.
I have businesses that have grown 4, 5, or 6x just because of things I’ve learned there.
And I’m a different person than I was before.
How peer groups changed me
Overcoming impostor syndrome
Looking back at my 20s and 30s, I had serious impostor syndrome. I was so terrified of failure that I wouldn’t chase things even if I knew they were good bets.
But in that room with other CEOs, I learned that they were making mistakes all the time.
Trying things, failing, learning, getting back up, and trying something else.
Just being in the room with these people made me realize that if they could do it, I could do it too.
Humility
Michael Girdley in his early 30s was kind of a jackass.
I had the “smartest guy in the room” problem.
I knew the answer to everything, and I was definitely going to tell you about it. And I wasn’t gonna slow down, listen, or be humble before jumping to a conclusion.
So walking in the room on the first day of my CEO peer group, I was amazed at the direct and honest feedback I got.
And I knew at that moment, I needed to develop some humility and be coachable, or I was never gonna get anywhere.
And these days, instead of telling people how it is, I say, “Here’s what I think, but I could be wrong.”
Gratitude
When you’re in a group of 18 or 20 CEOs, everybody brings their problems to the meeting.
Almost every single meeting, I walked into that room feeling like my problem was the biggest, nastiest thing in the world.
And every single time, somebody else had a problem that was just as bad or worse.
Maybe it’s stealing, or bankruptcy, or even cancer. And it always puts my problem in perspective.
I can’t help but feel grateful for how good I have things when I see the challenges my peers are going through.
And that monthly dose of gratitude makes me a happier, healthier person.
Learning
10 years ago, everything I did in business was basically winging it. Because the reality is there’s no class in college or MBA that teaches you how to be a CEO.
The problem: none of that scales. And it’s super inefficient.
My CEO peer group meant I was constantly exposed to new ideas. And I started noticing the amazing systems that people were using.
That led me to the biggest transformation I’ve made in that room: systems-based thinking.
Now, whenever there’s a problem, I ask: is there a system that will automate and streamline this?
I approach everything in my business with this lens. How do I do hiring? Strategy? Sales? HR? My first move is always to go out and find the best system to transform it.
Ambition
Surprise, surprise, I’m actually a very competitive guy. I like to win.
When I’m in that room with my CEO peers, we are friends and I am 100% there for them.
But deep down, you can’t stop me from wanting to win.
I want to produce more than the next person there. And being around high-achieving people has made me want to achieve more.
I work harder because I’m in a CEO peer group.
Community
CEO of a small business is the loneliest job in the world.
You have zero peers with you on the field, and while you can be friendly to your employees, you can’t be their friend.
But in a CEO peer group, you’re suddenly surrounded by people on the same journey you are.
The community and relationships I found when I joined a peer group were a big part of what made the group so sticky: come for the learning, stay for the friends.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is thinking about your thinking.
When you’re neck deep in your business’s day-to-day operations, it’s almost impossible to see the big picture.
Taking a day to step away, get some perspective, and think about your business from outside your business is one of the best things about the CEO peer group.
It’s potentially game-changing. If that perspective shows you how to improve one daily activity, say, 10% faster… the delta is insane.
My peer group has instilled this habit in me of slowing down, thinking deeper, and taking the long view to see what really matters.
What I built
I’m clearly a huge fan of CEO peer groups. And I wanted to share those benefits with more small business leaders. So after years in Tom’s group, I started my own community called Scalepath.
It’s not for everybody.
We’re tailored specifically to businesses doing more than $500K and under $10M in revenue — because business in that range have a unique set of problems and growing pains to solve.
We’re also just for people who are looking to scale. If your business has grown as big as you want it, you don’t need us. But if you’re looking to grow, it’s a huge opportunity.
It’s also completely online, focused on the Slack community that’s active every day (and I’m in there answering questions). We have regular calls and breakout sessions.
And now we’re launching a new cohort of peer groups.
Each peer group will be a small, curated pod with monthly deep-dive sessions and separate chats.
We’ll be working to group you together with peers solving the same problems — whether that’s B2B, services, retail/food, or online-only businesses — so you can get the absolute most.
We’re offering an early bird price for anyone who applies before the end of March.
If you have any questions, hit reply to this email and I’ll connect you with our head of community Tony!
3 things from this week
Appetizer: I’m announcing my next online lecture series — Top Roles to Offshore to LatAm. I’m looking forward to diving into the nuts and bolts with my cofounder Hayden at Near. Join me Thursday, Apr 10th — RSVP now!
Main: One of my hot takes: most business books should have been a pamphlet. So finding great summaries of books is a super high-leverage activity.
My friend Alex does this with his newsletter Alex & Books. Definitely worth your subscribe! (You'll also get a list of his 100 favorite books when you sign up.)Dessert: Am I wrong?
Thanks for reading,
Michael
P.S. If you’re interested in the peer group, get your application in before the end of March for the early bird discount.
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