WHO ARE THE SILVERADOS?

Silverados own midsize and large interior plant scaping businesses. They meet twice  a year for two days at a time, and one optional developmental meeting. Having no competitors at these meetings lays the foundation for an extremely high-trust climate where members freely share successes and failures, advise and support one another. Trios between meetings hold each other accountable with monthly check-ins. Email requests and responses flow continuously between members with questions on personnel, vendors, pricing, equipment recommendations and dozens of other requests.

​

This close-knit group of owners shares their numbers, but is more focused on what drives the numbers. Silverados explore new ways of addressing competition; trade successes on generating new business; have a special salesperson training program; set annual goals and review them at each meeting to hold one another accountable and to provide ideas and support on achieving them. Each year Silverados have a theme that members develop and implement in depth. For instance:

​

• Managing Human Talent in the 21st Century;

• Learning How to Be Different;

• Driving Delegation and Teamwork with consistent tools and practices.

​

The climate among the members is one of deep trust. Silverados get to know one another’s businesses, lives, and values in depth. Members challenge one another in a way that only deeply bonded friends can: to break out of areas in work where they are stuck and see areas where they have a blind spot that is stalling their business health and success.

HOW ARE SILVERADOS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES?

• We have all committed to double our revenue in five years.

• We visit and critique one another’s facilities.

• Each member receives an intensive business review every few years.

• We have stuck together during thick and thin. 

• Our focus is on understanding the things that drive the numbers.

• Having no competitors and a skilled chairperson builds a high-trust climate that sets aside egos and helps us deal very directly with the realities of our individual businesses.

• We explore and encourage innovative expansions of new products and services.

• We help each other better understand our blind spots and beliefs, how these may limit our business, and what to do about it.

• We help one another create successful businesses that enable and support meaningful lifestyles.

• For deeper work, REX provides intensive, one-to-one executive coaching to resolve conflicts, change habits, and strengthen your leadership style.

• REX provides proven frameworks and systems for clarifying the real causes of business problems, then developing possible solutions and implementing them.

• The Silverado Interiorscapers Roundtable has been meeting for over two decades. Some members have never missed a meeting!

WHAT MEMBERS SAY

• If I had a crisis in my business, I know that I could call on any member and they would fly in the next day to help and support me.

• The Silverados have helped me redesign my management team so I now have five direct reports who are all A-plus. The team is phenomenally successful and fun to work with. 

• The feedback at this session was worth the total cost of the year.

• This year will be more profitable because of the roundtable. 

• I am delighted and surprised by the amount and quality of information exchanged.

• Each session provides several insights and informational nuggets of exceptional value.

• I like the time constraints on each problem and the fact that everyone got their problem addressed.

• I would not have pursued my latest venture without the support of the Silverados.

• The written materials were even better than the sessions.

• It is especially nice when we come back and someone says: “Did you follow up?”

• We were having a family crisis—with no light at the end of the tunnel. I had an in-depth conversation with a Silverado member and their insights and offers to help were life-changing.

• The benchmarking with other companies is invaluable. 

• There is always someone at the roundtable who has solved a similar problem.

• These meetings are a real break; they always re-energize and refocus me.

• I leave each meeting with two to three valuable insights I can immediately use back home.

• Spending regular time with proven industry leaders is always insightful. 

• The open and honest sharing of information has been invaluable to me.

• The free exchange of ideas and solutions and the discussion of management principles infuse me with energy and improve my management skills.

• It gives you the opportunity to discuss with your peers freely and openly the challenges you face in your business and to arrive at a strategy or solution to your particular situation you face.

• Having a deadline three times a year helps me finish projects.

• Getting lots of viewpoints on an issue helps me make a better decision.

SILVERADO CHAIR

Willing Phillips is the founder of REX Roundtables for Executives and The Third Agenda okay you. Willing has four decades of experience as a strategic consultant to CEOs and their teams in 34 industries in 9 countries. REX and its team of chairs facilitate over 220 business owners in peer-group roundtables in several industries. Willing Phillips-your Silverado chair-“has an extraordinary ability to reach out and really connect with members at very deep level and make a real shift in our lives as leaders.” “He keeps us focused and brings interesting insights to our discussions.” In 2020 he passed REX leadership to his successor, Eddie Tock.  Willing continues to chair the Silverados.

HE SAYS ROUNDTABLE SUCCESS REQUIRES TWO INGREDIENTS

The foundation of a great peer group roundtable is based on its members’ great chemistry. REX has 35-plus years experience in selecting members who are close in size, complementary in skills, and committed to learning and helping one another. This turns the group into a community of common practice.

​

The second ingredient is a facilitator who orchestrates the experience. A no-nonsense chairperson with down-to-earth, practical experience—someone who keeps the discussion on track while adding valuable insights and just-in-time learning.

STAYING AHEAD OF COMPETITION

The Third Agenda scans hundreds of new books, articles, and videos from dozens of industries to select the best for interiorscapers. Silverados receive short, useful summaries of these new ideas and tools along with practical ideas on how to apply them to improve their business. Silverado Members see these resources 5 to 7 years before their commpetitors hear about them.  See the section called Resources in this website for examples.

IS THE SILVERADOS FOR ME?

• Do you ever feel alone at the top?

• Do you want ideas on increasing profit?

• Would you like to learn how to reduce costs, while maintaining value?

• Do you want to reduce headaches and frustrations?

• Are you ready to explore what you do not know you do not know?

• Want to improve implementation and accountability?

• Want to benchmark your business with others and learn how they succeed in areas where you struggle?

• How about improving the quality of your life and increasing the fun at work?

• Are you willing to share?

• Do you like to help others succeed?

• Each meeting is 2 ½ days long and generally requires air travel unless we are meeting to visit your facility.Would you commit to attending two required meetings a year (there is a third optional meeting that often include staff for training).

• Do you have at least 10 employees?

• Is your revenue one to ten million dollars or more?

​

If you answered yes to most of these questions, you may be ready for a free trial visit at the next Silverado Session. Contact a member or the chair – Willing Phillips.

CONTACT Willing Phillips at
858–829–1615  
willing@thethirdagenda.com
to explore your be in the Silverado Roundtable and what the benefits would be for you.

LIKE IT BUT HAVE NO TIME? If you do not have time to sharpen you saw and get better, you end up sawing harder and longer with a dull saw. The SILVERDOs can help you learn to take a break and do some saw sharpening. Becoming a Silverado is an effective way to address the NO TIME ISSUE. Working hard is wonderful, but business owners can learn how to work less and accomplish more. This is no idle promise; it is the experience of many members. Join the SILVERADOs and learn how to have a great business and a satisfying life.