Established in 2011,Westgate is a personal branding and career advisory services firm. We serve individual and corporate executives across industries, including private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Home of the Award-Winning 90-Day Plan.

Legitimize your candidacy

According to the World Economic Forum 2024 Global Outlook Report, there are a handful of global issues impacting every business, from supply chain to intellectual property risks vis-à-vis artificial intelligence. 

I speak with industry leaders every week who are CEOs, private equity leaders, corporate board director candidates, and entrepreneurs who ask similar questions. Thematically, they want to know "Maureen, what do boards care about?" The Global Outlook Report is an excellent beginning point to understand what's on the minds of boards today, and the issues should be no surprise. 

However, your point of view on these matters is pivotal to your legitimate candidacy for board and CEO opportunities and building trust and confidence with the board is the first order of operations for board discussions. When you know what they care about, you can prepare. 
 

While we are not experts on addressing global risks, we understand their importance to boards, investors, and other stakeholders. You must understand your audience to effectively prepare for the conversation. 
 

Since 2011, we’ve been helping CEOs and board candidates prepare their value proposition to present during interviews and networking conversations. Today we offer three tools you may find helpful for these purposes. 
 

The 90-Day Plan is an international award-winning tool used to communicate your value proposition with the board based on evidence and data points from your past successes. Not a fluff-producing accolade, the 90-Day Plan is a practical tool that lays out your operational plan for the first 90 to 180 days. 

The plan provides a step-by-step process to document your daily, weekly, and monthly activities as you take over a new role. In addition to the plan sample, we’ve also included a template you can customize.

The executive job interview model is popular among most senior-level individuals as they have seldom had to prepare for interviews as candidates because they’ve mostly been the decision-maker in their firms. It is also useful for fireside chats, media interviews, and executive briefings.
 

Our model is similar to others, but what we believe sets ours apart is the focus on strategic outcomes rather than hard results. Often candidates stop at the hard results during interviews and fail to connect the results with the strategic goals of the organization. 

The tool is surprisingly simple, but creates that “aha” moment for candidates as they worry about how to answer the question “Why should we hire you for this role…or why do you want to work with us?” Once familiar with the model, they have a framework to customize.

One of Westgate's frequent readers reported to us that the interview model was a key component of his board interview strategy and he landed the seat ahead of 75 other applicants. 

The third asset is the value proposition tool that answers the question “What will you (as our board member or CEO) do to create value by making money, saving money, or solving a problem for our firm?” 

Your value propositions (you will have many to offer, of course), will form signature stories that you will tell your audience with specific emphasis on the context. For example, If your audience is largely financial leaders, you will likely focus on financials. If you’re speaking to a group of lawyers, you will likely focus on risk management, etc. 

If your audience is mixed, you will choose signature stories from multiple perspectives (risk, financial, etc.). 

To explore our advisory services, see this link. 

A travel companion for your business travel:

We are also pleased to again present a travel companion for you--a list of Westgate accredited restaurants worldwide. Published each year, these restaurants are recommended by our clients, friends, and podcast guests

My personal favorites include:

🔴 Aquavit  | 65 East 55th St., NYC (3 Michelin Stars)    

🔴 Kellari Taverna | 19 W 44th St, NYC, New York

🔴 Vittles, New Ross, Nova Scotia (CANADA)

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Serving clients globally since 2011.

My appointment to the Association for Corporate Growth New York DEI Committee ...

I am delighted to share that I've been accepted as a member of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee for the Association for Corporate Growth New York. 

Since my early days in the corporate sector, I have advocated for diversity practices to drive ethical and inclusive business growth in support of all stakeholders, including customers, investors, shareholders, regulators, suppliers, and employees. 

Founded in 1954, the Association for Corporate Growth has chapters worldwide representing 14,500 members. 

ACG serves 90,000 investors, executives, lenders and advisers to growing middle-market companies. ACG's mission is to drive middle-market growth.

It is reported that 75% of ACG members do business with fellow members.

This return on investment has made ACG the most trusted and respected resource for middle-market dealmakers and business leaders who invest in growth and build companies.

Thank you for being part of the Westgate community. I hope you find our weekly newsletter helpful as it is a labor of love and service to you. Have an optimized week ahead. 

Maureen Farmer is a CEO career advisor and personal branding strategist for next-level executives, investors, and board nominees. 

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Westgate is a 100% independent professional career services firm.

Westgate Executive Branding and Career Consulting Inc. would like to acknowledge that we are located in Mi'kma'ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi'kmaq People. We are all Treaty people.