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Leadership and Culture on the Connected Enterprise Podcast

Matthew Sitter thinks a lot about leadership development and how networks operate.

It started in high school when he was part of a national championship water polo team. Matthew’s teammates were bigger than him, so he focused on how he could support them and make the team better.

Matthew began his career in healthcare and, in 2012, joined the McChrystal Group, founded by General Stanley McChrystal and his aides. Matthew liked how the organization empowered people, and that’s when he became an executive coach.

“I thought a lot about how changing leaders’ behavior in an organization could make a difference,” Matthew says.

Today, he’s the founder and CEO of Advantage Foundry Network, LLC, a global community of CEOs whose members share challenges, ideas, and solutions and gain inspiration from their peers.

Matthew joined Carl Lewis, host of The Connected Enterprise podcast, to chat about critical considerations for CEOs.

The Chief Dot Connector

Matthew says CEOs must consider themselves the ‘chief dot connector’ of their business.

“They take information from different places, both internal and external,” Matthew says. “They help their employees understand, ‘Here’s your place in what we’re doing’ or ‘Here’s what our organization does within the marketplace.’”

CEOs should share that information inside and outside their business’s walls.

When prospects and customers know how you understand the marketplace—and how you can help them thrive in it—your business becomes a trusted source of products and services.

CEOs must also recognize their people are their most leverageable asset.

“People are often a source of untapped potential,” Matthew explains. “How you get at that potential is important. A lot of it flows from the culture and environment you create.”

Students of Communication

CEOs come from a range of backgrounds. Carl knows one who started as a youth minister and another who began as an accountant.

No matter their histories, Matthew believes all CEOs should be students of human behavior and communication.

"There's so much that can go wrong with communication," Matthew notes.

With all the communication tools we have, including email, text, and Zoom, CEOs must understand the advantages of each and use them for the appropriate return on investment.

CEOs should focus on the value of their communication, how they help people understand the business’s vision, and how everyone moves in the same direction together.

Networks Matter

Today’s CEOs are navigating an uncertain economy—but Matthew doesn’t think that’s a bad thing.

“Without change, there’s no innovation,” he says. “Change is where opportunity happens.”

CEOs must figure out how to take advantage of change, whether it’s on an organizational or global level. Having a diverse network of people with different expertise helps.

“You can learn from folks in other industries quite well,” Matthew says.

He once worked with a brewery CEO and a SaaS company CEO. The SaaS company CEO said customer acquisition cost was his most critical metric. The brewery CEO had never considered using that metric—but started to.

“They changed their marketing strategy as a result of being connected to someone they otherwise wouldn’t have been connected to,” Matthew concludes.

Listen to the Podcast

For more insights from Matthew Sitter, listen to Vision33’s The Connected Enterprise podcast. In each episode, host Carl Lewis interviews bright minds and industry thought leaders about enterprise technology and what’s coming next.

Listen now