I look for three qualities when I invite someone to join our Vistage group. They follow the acronym CHI.

The first is Courage. It takes courage to join a business leadership group and to acknowledge, “I do not have all the answers.” We have all known leaders who were arrogant and were the first to tell you what you were doing incorrectly and how to do it their way. The “right” way. That does not work in our group. You need to be courageous enough to ask others for help,

The H is for humility. The term “humility” comes from the Latin word humilitas, which may be translated as “humble”, but also as “grounded”, or “from the earth”, since it derives from humus (earth).I got this from reading Brene’ Brown’s “Atlas of the Heart” and it gave me some additional thinking about humility. I love this dictionary definition: ” Humility means being open to the possibility of being wrong, being willing to consider other people’s ideas and being respectful — of your seniors, your peers and your subordinates.” Wow. I look for people close to the ground who are willing to listen to others and respectfully consider all ideas.

And the I stands for integrity. In our group we discuss some personal issues. About our lives. We make ourselves vulnerable. My favorite coda to my 1-2-1 sessions is when a member tells me, “I don’t talk about these things with anyone else.” That mean the member trusts me, and trusts the group to act with integrity. To hold in confidence what should not be shared outside the group. And that the fellow members will not harshly judge one another for a view they do not share or understand.

“CHI” has different meanings in Chinese, Navajo, Nigerian and Indian cultures. I am no expert in these definitions or practices, but I align most closely with this view: “Chi is the source of energy for all life, the force that runs through and animates your body. This idea of a hidden energy source is a core component of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), an ancient system of medicine that strives toward mental, physical, and emotional harmony.” That’s a thorough view of how we run our group.