Guy Berry (Redirect Health) gives a first-person testimonial about six years in the COO Alliance (led by Cameron Herold). He emphasizes that the primary value is the peer network and relationships—instant access to other COOs for advice—more than content alone. He praises the shift to a monthly virtual cadence plus periodic in-person events, the introduction of structured accountability groups and one-on-ones, and credits the Alliance with helping him survive difficult market conditions, double his company since joining, and gain confidence and career growth. He also lauds Cameron Herold's broad impact on leaders and their teams.
Chapters
Guy Berry. And my company is Redirect Health. So I've been with the SEAL alliance now six years. I was able to participate in some of the early events and I found just an amazing network of other people like minded that deal with some of the similar issues I deal with or even share some of the same successes that we all go through. And I found people that I could connect with. The people that stay around the COO alliance, the ones that come year after year after year, see the value in the network, meaning there are all these other perspectives, all these other companies of people that come together, that deal with similar situations and entrepreneurs and dealing with a CEO and working with the CEO and that yin yang relationship, as Cameron Harrell will talk about. And what I know is that network of people is the value, the content. We can go read books, we can go find other things, you know, YouTube videos, podcasts, to learn more things. I'm not here to do that. I can go listen to a podcast, but the people I connect with, the phone numbers I have, that I can text or call and ask a situation later, that's the power I get. So the SEAL alliance over the last six years, when it started, it was before COVID and everything was in person. Then it started to switch during COVID and there became a virtual aspect to it. But then Cameron found to do a monthly cadence. And what I like about the monthly cadence is it's a three hour session, you get together, it's virtual, and in that session he brings great speakers, you have breakouts, and so you have that monthly cadence touch point to just get back and work on the business every month. Some of in the past you would be in an event every three months, four months, maybe even further apart. So you didn't have that just cadence of keep going, keep going, keep going. So I have enjoyed it moving to a monthly and then on top of that, bringing in the virtual so we can still connect to people and then more recently adding back the in person events so we can build those connections. One of the things that I've seen them add to the COO alliance in the last few years is be intentional with the accountability. So they created accountability groups where other COOs come together and then they meet on a monthly cadence and you build that relationship, that rapport with those people. But you also challenge each other. Like, hey, you said you were gonna get this done last month at your company. Did you get it done? So you're holding each other to what you're saying. And in the past it's, it was more fluid, like, hey, everybody should do an accountability group. Now it's more structured. They're adding and saying, who is your group? Okay, let's set it up. And so the co alliance will actually email everybody, say, are you meeting? Is your group coming together and make sure. So really holding the accountability group accountable. And then on top of that, they just started recently doing one on ones which is really cool. Find two people that share potentially similar company sizes, maybe some similar issues or things they're going through, connecting those two people and saying, hey, why don't you guys start having one on ones and growing that way as well. Cameron Harold will talk about the 10x value and he will tell you at an event we do, he'll say, hey, just shout out bonus time. Which means, hey, I've reached my 10x. And every event I felt like I've reached a bonus time somewhere. I've 10x my value. You can't always put money on some of the value you get. And what I mean by that is I'm not where I am today. If I hadn't been a part of the co alliance. And what I mean by that is it taught me that I was not alone. And at times when I felt like I have to be the only one going through some of the things I'm going through and the troubles I'm having or the struggles, then you find out, no, everyone has their own things they're going through. I was able to go through those moments not alone and it helped me take my career to another level. I also think that part of the value I see is when you look at the last few years Covid other things that things go through, you might go, well, we didn't grow 10x, but maybe your business would have gone out of business if you hadn't made some of the decisions to pivot to change. So sometimes the 10x is you protected a business during an environment that we were really struggling in. And when you look at where the market's head, where things are going, or maybe there's external factors that start to affect your business, sometimes the 10x value is just being able to sustain the business through those troubling times. And I believe that our company made it through some very troubling times. And I'm excited because I do see our growth. We have since I started the COO alliance, we've doubled our company. And on top of that, I can see where there's a pathway to even 10xing the value in our company. I think when it comes to confidence with CEOs. And really what you hear is even CEOs, but they don't talk about it is this imposter syndrome that Cameron will talk about when the imposter syndrome happens. You think, I don't deserve to be in this role. Somebody's going to figure me out that I don't know what I'm doing. And you'll hear Cameron say, no one knows what they're doing. And so once you start to realize, hey, we're all trying to figure this out together, and we're all learning together, you can have confidence that I'm trying to grow, I'm trying to learn. And here I am taking the steps, doing something like the COO alliance to grow myself. That's all you need. And then the confidence comes from that. So one of the things that has changed in my career and even just in my personal life was the aspect that if you look at any professional athlete, look at an actor, look at anybody who's on tv, who performs at a high level, look around them. And so let's take Michael Jordan, for example. Michael Jordan had all types of coaches. He had people that would help him with his diet, people that helped him with his exercise, people that helped him with his mindset, all of these things. And so if you think about it, if you want to go to a new level, at some point, we all need people around us to help us get to that next level. The SEAL alliance creates that network to help us take us to another level. I want to say that I just love Cameron Herald, and I think he's an amazing human being more than anything else. I've appreciated getting to know him for six years and. And I just think that he doesn't realize the impact he's had on businesses. He might see the coos that he has an interaction with on these monthly and quarterly basis, but think of the thousands upon thousands of employees who've been impacted by those leaders then going back to their businesses and growing them. That impact is huge. And he's having an impact on all of those lives and those people's lives. They're going home to their husbands, their wives, their kids, and their lives are better from the leaders that have grown under Cameron. Really think he should know that. And he's an amazing person.
