What is the most important benefit of membership with Executive Networks?

All Executive Networks member services are great, but the best membership benefit are the twice-yearly network meetings. My main goal in joining was to get in the room with people at my level – true peers – and exchange ideas. Access to peer expertise – and the opportunity to get a read on current practices in real time – is critical for me.

Is peer access through a professionally run network more relevant now?
The pace of change is becoming more and more rapid, and access to peer expertise in a network provides the opportunity to keep up with what’s going on – who’s thinking and trying what, etc. There are other venues, including professional conferences, but they have drawbacks. Conferences are more structured and you don’t know if you’re going to have access to real peers. Also, with conferences, only so much of the work presented is relevant to what I’m dealing with in my position. But with Executive Networks, the meetings usually last one day, the topics are chosen by network membership, and the meetings feature a speaker plus the opportunity to put your issue on the table and get quick feedback and relevant insights.

What should prospective members think about when considering membership in Executive Networks?

Prospective members should look at the quality of the networks and realize that they’ll be interacting with true peers. Also, I’d tell a prospective member to look at how he/she wants to spend their time – and how many activities they can be involved in professionally before they start to get diminishing returns on investment of time and money. With Executive Networks, I get access to peers and I know first-hand the incredible value of that. For instance, one thing about the network meetings that I’m always struck by: Members are often working on many of the same issues – regardless of industry or region – and we’re able to weigh in directly and provide each other tangible, outsider feedback that you can’t get anywhere else. That’s also true of the Online Peer Networking system – the message board system where members interact virtually.