What happens when you bring together more than 250 CEOs, COOs, and top sales leaders for two days of presentations, meetings, networking, and fun? BIG magic!
At the sixth annual CEO Coaching International Summit, we raised the bar by bringing in a former President to kickoff the event with a fireside chat about his life, his time in the White House, and his advice for business leaders. We’ll share details on his talk in Part III of this post.
And the bar stayed high as each guest presenter delivered insightful and impactful stories that left us at times both speechless and inspired.
Founding Partner Mark Moses opened up our 2019 event with the latest BIG numbers from another successful year at CEO Coaching International. Our clients represent:

Mark Moses
- $10.7 Billion In Revenue
- $870 Million In EBITDA
- 70,000+ Employees
- 182 Companies
- 28 Countries
- And a HUGE 66.4% Compounded Annual EBITDA Growth Rate for clients engaged for three years
To learn how you can become part of our community, click here.
Summit Takeaways
This is the first of three parts where we’ll detail some of the key takeaways from this year’s Summit.
Sandra Joseph on “Pursuing Your Passion”
Sandra Joseph gave one of the most powerful presentations ever to grace the CEO Coaching Summit stage as she brought some audience members to tears.

Sandra Joseph in “Phantom of the Opera”
For almost a decade, Sandra played Christine in Phantom of the Opera, the longest running Broadway show in history. She told her story of fear and rejection and how it wasn’t until she was able to “drop the mask” and show up as she authentically was that she was finally able to win the role of a lifetime on Broadway.
Sandra said, “There’s a cost when we put ourselves out there, but there’s a greater cost to staying hidden.” For years, Sandra auditioned in a way that she thought would appeal to the casting directors. But it wasn’t until she finally had the inner courage to show up and be her real self, not some character she was impersonating, that she had her breakthrough.
She also said, “You can put a mask on and hide, or you can have the inner courage to drop the mask and show up as you authentically are.” Powerful stuff.
Near the end of her presentation, she mentioned that during her tenure as Christine, a new person came in to play the Phantom and it changed the chemistry of the play—both on and off the stage. She ended up marrying that Phantom and to the surprise of everyone in the audience at the Summit, Sandra started singing a song from the play. And then the Phantom, her husband, walked to the front of the stage and the two sang a stirring duet from the show that left the audience giving a rousing standing ovation.
What’s your mask? What are you hiding? What is it costing you to not show up as your true self?
Patty McCord on Building High Performance Teams
Patty McCord is the former Chief People Officer of Netflix and the co-author of the famous Netflix Culture Deck that has become mandatory reading for entrepreneurs. She’s also the author of Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility.

Patty McCord
Patty said you should strive to “create a company that’s a great place to be from.” Meaning, when somebody has your company’s name on their Linkedin profile you know that they are a top caliber person. By extension, if you’re a great company to be from, it means you are also a great company to go to. So, you’ll end up attracting the top performers who are knocking down the door to work for your company.
At Neflix, Patty built a culture of transparency. She told a story about how a colleague was complaining to her about another employee and then Patty asked her, “What did they say when you told them what you just told me?” Boom. That will shut down the gossip and complaining very quickly.
She also highlighted the importance of recognizing great work. And as an exercise, she encouraged all of us to find three people in the next week and tell them what they’re doing well. Hey, we all get beat down enough so taking a moment to personally recognize your teammates who are doing something well goes a long way. Go ahead and do that this week and beyond. Make it a part of your leadership philosophy.
Matt Dixon on the Challenger Sale
Matt Dixon is the bestselling author of The Challenger Sale, a highly respected book that turns the sales process upside down. Most sales rep grew up learning the “relationship selling” model. And that works–sometimes. And relationship sellers often start with what Matt calls the worst question a salesperson can ask a prospective client–“What keeps you up at night?”
Instead, Matt says you should tell your prospective client what SHOULD keep them up at night. With this shift in perspective, you become a source of great insight to your prospective client, not someone just trying to hawk your products.
Challenger salespeople are teachers who bring great insight and unique–and often provocative–perspectives to the client’s business. In fact, there are times when the Challenger salesperson will tell the client that they’re wrong. And they can get away with this because they have the data and insights to back it up.
Relationship sellers are focused on reducing tension in the conversation, while Challenger sellers actually foster “constructive tension.” Challengers tailor their message on the customer’s value drivers and they are comfortable discussing money. The Challenger sales methodology is particularly effective in selling complex solutions.
Stay tuned for Part II as we have many more speakers and highlights that we’ll be sharing.
The 2019 CEO Coaching Summit would not have been such a BIG success without the passion and dedication of all our clients, speakers, sponsors, families, friends, and the entire CEO Coaching International team. Thank you so much to everyone involved, and we hope to see you all again at the next Summit in Miami, Florida on April 24 – 26, 2020.
About Mark Moses
Mark Moses is the Founding Partner of CEO Coaching International and the Amazon Bestselling author of Make Big Happen. His firm coaches over 185 of the world’s top high-growth entrepreneurs and CEO’s on how to dramatically grow their revenues and profits, implement the most effective strategies, becoming better leaders, grow their people, build accountability systems, and elevate their own performance. Mark has won Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award and the Blue Chip Enterprise award for overcoming adversity. His last company ranked #1 Fastest-Growing Company in Los Angeles as well as #10 on the Inc. 500 of fastest growing private companies in the U.S. He has completed 12 full distance Ironman Triathlons including the Hawaii Ironman World Championship 5 times.
About CEO Coaching International
CEO Coaching International works with the world’s top entrepreneurs, CEOs, and companies to dramatically grow their business, develop their people, and elevate their overall performance. Known globally for its success in coaching growth-focused entrepreneurs to meaningful exits, CEO Coaching International has coached more than 500 CEOs and entrepreneurs in more than 20 different countries. Every coach at CEO Coaching International is a former CEO or President that has made big happen. The firm’s coaches have led double-digit sales and profit growth in businesses ranging in size from $10 million to over $1 billion, and many are founders that have led their companies through successful eight and nine figure exits. CEOs and entrepreneurs working with CEO Coaching International for three years or more have experienced an average EBITDA CAGR of 66.4% during their time as a client, more than five times the national average. For more information, please visit: https://www.ceocoachinginternational.com
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