Leo Bottary

My passion is building highly collaborative environments that make the world a better place. My company, Peernovation, facilitates intentional conversations that create clarity among leaders and employees to 1) assist companies with building higher-performing teams; and 2) help CEOs and business leaders maximize their peer advisory group experience.

I love what I do because it makes a difference. According to a study conducted by Grammarly/Harris Poll, ineffective communication costs US companies alone $1.2 trillion annually. My programs inspire cross-functional leadership teams, departmental teams, and peer advisory groups alike to write their future of work and set the stage for achieving new heights.

As a keynote speaker, author, workshop facilitator, adjunct professor, and thought leader on the topics of peer advantage and Peernovation, I believe the “The Power of We Begins With You.” 

If you believe that meeting future challenges will require building the best teams possible, then visit https://www.peernovation.biz/, and let's take what CEO peer advisory groups and forums have been doing so brilliantly for decades and apply those practices to your organization!

Founder, Managing Partner

After a decade of research, three books, and the successful completion of more than 600 self-assessment and aspirational workshops for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and their employees in North America, Australia, and Europe, Peernovation, LLC is making a difference. Leveraging my work in group dynamics and strategic communication, we assist companies with building higher-performing teams in the workplace, and helping CEOs and business leaders maximize their peer group experience.  I am joined by a team of Peernovation Certified Facilitators based in the US, Canada, China, UK, New Zealand, and the Nordics.

What began as an exploration of CEO peer advisory groups soon revealed a broader truth: whether in a forum or a company, exceptional performance is a collective achievement. Peter Senge stated his favorite definition of leadership as “the capacity of a human community to shape its future.” It’s a definition rooted not in control, but in creating the conditions for people to thrive together.

That view aligns remarkably well with Robert Greenleaf’s seminal 1970 essay, The Servant as Leader. While dismissed during the command-and-control era, servant leadership has become the modern standard. And at its heart is something we’ve understood since childhood: the power of peers.

In a world changing as rapidly as ours, that power is becoming central to how the best teams and the best leaders succeed. For the complete CEOWORLD magazine article on why this is the case, click here: https://lnkd.in/g4dcC_YZ

My passion is building highly collaborative environments that make the world a better place. My company, Peernovation, facilitates intentional conversations that create clarity among leaders and employees to 1) assist companies with building higher-performing teams; and 2) help CEOs and business leaders maximize their peer advisory group experience.

I love what I do because it makes a difference. According to a study conducted by Grammarly/Harris Poll, ineffective communication costs US companies alone $1.2 trillion annually. My programs inspire cross-functional leadership teams, departmental teams, and peer advisory groups alike to write their future of work and set the stage for achieving new heights.

As a keynote speaker, author, workshop facilitator, podcaster, adjunct professor, and thought leader on the topics of peer advantage and Peernovation, I believe the “The Power of We Begins With You.” 

If you believe that meeting future challenges will require building the best teams possible, then visit https://www.peernovation.biz/, and let's take what CEO peer advisory groups and forums have been doing so brilliantly for decades and apply those principles to your organization!

Founder of Peernovation - We leverage the power of peers so your teams learn faster, collaborate better, and deliver results they never dreamed possible. Author, Speaker, Adjunct Professor, CEOWORLD Opinion Columnist.

Please join me in congratulating and welcoming Becky Tolnay to the community of Peernovation Certified Facilitators! Becky is an executive facilitator and Vistage Florida Chair who draws on three decades with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. to help CEOs and leadership teams make better decisions together. She specializes in creating high-trust, high-performing peer environments where leaders can step out of the day-to-day, think strategically, and learn from each other’s real-world experience. To learn more about Becky and our esteemed team of facilitators and coaches, visit peernovation.biz/team. To learn more about our certification program, join us at https://lnkd.in/gzGCK_iw

If you want to know what we can do for you in a nutshell, check out the infographic below. We assist organizations in achieving clarity, improving communication, fostering collaboration, and increasing organizational capacity. Our approach is based on the tried-and-true principles and practices that CEO Forums have successfully utilized for decades, ensuring lasting results.

Anita Polite-Wilson, Ph.D. Becky Tolnay Chris Zhuang Jim Naleid "Bus Driver" Gord Moker Thomas Gregory Karen Louise Floyd Adam Harris Randy Cantrell Pete Sciabarra, Ph.D. Prof. Dr. Amarendra Bhushan Dhiraj CEOWORLD magazine

Post-Thanksgiving food for thought:

In today's fast-paced environment, the challenge is to achieve more with less and to do so quickly. Effective collaboration has become essential rather than optional. Here are three key elements to facilitate this:

1) Team members must have a voice in their roles and processes.
2) A commitment to intentionality is necessary to transition from familiar practices to new ways of working.
3) Relying solely on top-down management is insufficient; collaboration must be driven and sustained by peers.

Peernovation is not merely a solution seeking a problem; it is a tailored system that you create to meet your specific goals. By examining the successful strategies of high-performing CEO Forums, you will uncover ways to thrive in 2026 and beyond. 

Learn more at Peernovation.biz or message me or any of our Peernovation Certified Facilitators. You can find them here at Peernovation.biz/team

Karen Louise Floyd Anita Polite-Wilson, Ph.D. Becky Tolnay Prof. Dr. Amarendra Bhushan Dhiraj CEOWORLD magazine Thomas Gregory Gilles • Prepoint - Liberating Greatness Gord Moker Adam Harris Pete Sciabarra, Ph.D. Chris Zhuang Jim Naleid "Bus Driver" Randy Cantrell Monica Kreuger

Decades of work with CEOs and leadership teams have taught me a humbling truth: teams rarely fail to learn; they fail to apply what they learn to how they work. Great training inspires. Great systems transcend. You’ll find the complete CEOWORLD magazine article here: https://lnkd.in/gPsyEFBq

Give your team the gift that keeps on giving! Peernovation is more than a moment in time; it's built for lasting success. To learn more about Peernovation and how the book can help your team reach new heights, click here: peernovation.biz; if you want fewer than 25 copies, ordering from Amazon Prime (free shipping) is your best bet; and if you want 25 copies or more, message me here, and I'll connect you directly with the publisher where you can avail yourself of bulk purchasing discounts. While I hope you buy the book, I mostly want you to enjoy a happy and healthy holiday season with loved ones. Remember, who you surround yourself with matters.

Next week, I'll share a major CEOWORLD magazine article on a topic that should be top of mind for every CEO leading any size company in 2026. Your challenge is to lead an organization that learns and implements that learning faster than the pace of change. AI will be an important tool, but the peer-to-peer dynamics in your organization will be the fuel. 

Here's an infographic that draws from decades of research and 50 interviews I conducted with highly successful people from various walks of life - all of whom reached the same conclusions: 1) None of us does it alone; and 2) Who you surround yourself with matters.

In the race to lead companies, build teams, and outperform competitors, we spend extraordinary time optimizing processes, tightening systems, and measuring output. It’s no surprise, then, that creative pursuits (writing, painting, designing, podcasting, even something as simple as sketching on a whiteboard) are often placed in a category we mentally label ‘optional’. Something for “when things slow down.”

But after reading Your Brain On Art: How Art Transforms Us, the authors (Susan Magsamen, Ivy Ross) showed me that if you’re a CEO who believes creativity is extracurricular, you’re leaving one of your most powerful leadership tools untapped. Creativity is not a passive luxury. It is an active cognitive asset, and possibly the most underleveraged one in business today. 

For my complete CEOWORLD magazine article, click here: https://lnkd.in/gYNHe6W8

Check out this terrific CEOWORLD magazine article by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky on Generative AI and the importance of collaboration over competition. https://lnkd.in/gC7inMbM

Prof. Dr. Amarendra Bhushan Dhiraj Maria Gourtsilidou Lisa Gable Lisa Towles, MBA

Anthony J. D'Angelo once said, "When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves." In my latest piece for CEOWORLD magazine, What Prevents Us From Being Better Collaborators, I attempt to do just that.

We celebrate collaboration in theory. We put it on posters, print it in value statements, applaud it in leadership speeches, and promise it in strategic plans. Yet the lived experience is often quite different. Even in organizations filled with smart, well-intentioned people, collaboration usually gives way to competing priorities, individual agendas, or “the way we’ve always done it.”
This raises a fundamental question: If we know collaboration leads to better problem-solving, faster learning, and more innovative outcomes, then why aren’t we better at it?

Click here for the full article: https://lnkd.in/djHMZvqe

Every once in a while, there's a topic that deserves delivering a special episode of the Peernovation Deep Dive. Collaboration is not difficult because we are broken. It’s challenging because we are human. You'll find the complete article here: https://lnkd.in/djHMZvqe. For today's special episode of the Peernovation Deep Dive, join DwAIne & JAIne here: https://lnkd.in/gYBmEDgP. We'd love to read your thoughts in the comments!

Jeffrey Goldman, Ph.D., the best gift a peer group could possibly give a speaker is the knowledge that what we talked about in the morning contributed to a breakthrough afternoon. It doesn't get any better than that. Better yet, your engagements are destined to grow stronger!  Happy holidays and a fantastic 2026 to you all!

CEO | Author | I work with other CEOs to grow their business, improve their health, and facilitate their personal fulfillment in their lives as a Vistage Chair | No Leader Stands Alone-Together We Rise.

"Great great issue processing! That was the BEST issue processing we've done!"

When a 10 year veteran Vistage Worldwide, Inc. member, whose issue we did NOT even process, says that? You know something real just happened.

Last week, our Vistage CEO group spent an amazing morning with Leo Bottary. 

Leo gave us a new frame that expanded our safe space so CEOs could get real about what they truly need right now. He unlocked something in the group. 🔓

That afternoon, after he left, we threw out the agenda, put that new frame straight to work, and processed three heavy issues in real time:
🔹 Life with a new cap table
This member walked out with clarity on how to turn all that new energy and complexity into a positive driver of company value.
🔹 "What do I do next?"
We hit pause and shifted the focus to what is best for them personally and for the company, not just what is next on the treadmill.
🔹 Managing capacity while expanding
Capacity constraints are real. They left knowing exactly what they should be offloading now so growth does not come at the expense of their effectiveness or well-being.

When I asked the room, "What was your biggest takeaway today?" that 10 year member gave us the opening line. I also heard:
💬 "...we had good issue cross-linking, and an in-depth understanding of things. This sh!t is fun!"
 (“Have Fun” is part of our operating agreements.)

That is the power of a group where trust is high, ego is low, and everyone is committed to getting better, even the Chair...especially the Chair. 🪑📈

We are all growing together. 🌱🚀

If you are a CEO who feels the weight of the role, wants a place to be fully honest without being judged, and knows this is the time to do something for yourself, let’s talk. There is one more spot left on the 11th for our last opportunity of 2025. 

No Leader Stands Alone. Together We Rise. ⬆️

Send me a message and we will see if our Vistage group is the right place for you to grow, and for the people who count on you to rise with you.

Greg Berlin, Steven Heidorn, Ravneet Dhaliwal, Ravi Bains, Jason Aikens, Rich Ruckman, Ismail Nalwala, Kristi Jones, William Aikens, Mike O'Connor

For this week's episode of the Peernovation Deep Dive, brought to you by Google's #NotebookLM, DwAIne and JAIne riff on my recent CEOWORLD magazine article on the book, Your Brain On Art: How Art Transforms Us (Susan Magsamen, Ivy Ross) and its relevance to today's workplaces. The authors make a case that if you’re a CEO who believes creativity is extracurricular, you’re leaving one of your most powerful leadership tools untapped. Creativity is not a passive luxury. It is an active cognitive asset, and possibly the most underleveraged one in business today. 

Here's your link to the podcast: https://lnkd.in/gZgUH8Gm and the article: https://lnkd.in/gYNHe6W8.

Just posted my Amazon Review for Amy Edmondson's latest book! It's a great read.  I'm talking about the book, or course, not my review. ;-)

If it's Tuesday, it's time for another episode of the Peernovation Deep Dive, powered by Google's #NotebookLM.  Join DwAIne & JAIne as they unpack The Peer Effect and why it matters for today's leaders. https://lnkd.in/dKQ3BDug. If you'd like to read the full article CEOWORLD magazine, here you go: https://lnkd.in/g4dcC_YZ

My question for you: How will the peer effect influence the way you choose to lead in 2026?

taplio

Leo Bottary's Linkedin Analytics

Leo Bottary

Performance ScoreLeo Bottary's LinkedIn Performance

Leo Bottary's Best Posts (last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

.css-6ytdur{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39, 43, 72, 1) 0%, rgba(33, 47, 183, 1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Leo Bottary's Linkedin Analytics

Leo Bottary

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Leo Bottary's LinkedIn Performance

Leo Bottary's Best Posts .css-1emoo84{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:400;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);}(last 30 days)

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Leo Bottary's Linkedin Analytics

Performance ScoreLeo Bottary's LinkedIn Performance

Leo Bottary's Best Posts (last 30 days)