From strategy to execution: Lessons in global leadership from Rob Ristagno 

On a recent episode of Vistage Live, we welcomed Rob Ristagno, President of International Operations for Vistage Worldwide. With over 25 years of experience scaling private equity-backed companies in learning, training and professional development, Rob has a rare blend of strategic thinking and operational rigour. He’s also a subject matter expert in subscription and membership models — so much so that he literally wrote the book on it. 

In our conversation, Rob shared practical lessons on what it really takes to lead growth-oriented businesses across markets, cultures, and time zones. Here are some key takeaways. 

“The key thing is to keep the strategy simple,” Rob said. “It’s a lot of work to keep it simple — simple but not easy.” The simplicity of a strategy allows teams to focus and execute effectively, but getting there requires deep understanding of your business’s key drivers. 

That means knowing what actually moves the needle — not just brainstorming in a boardroom, but investing time and analysis into understanding what drives profit, growth, and differentiation. 

Rob recommends a rigorous approach to narrowing down the 3–5 critical levers that drive a business. He suggests sensitivity analysis — testing how small changes in variables like pricing, customer count or deal size affect performance. 

“You might find that retention is one of the biggest levers,” Rob noted. “If you look at what one point of retention does to the top and bottom line, it’s a pretty big number.” 

From there, break it down further. Using tools like McKinsey’s fishbone analysis, leaders can uncover the ‘drivers behind the drivers’, often finding overlooked factors that can deliver outsized results. 

“You don’t always have the answers,” Rob said. “Sometimes you need to treat business like a science — form a hypothesis and experiment.” He referenced Vistage Chair Mark Bregman’s advice: take a scientific, not just an engineering, approach to problem-solving. 

Whether it’s average items per order or improving a sales funnel, experimenting helps leaders refine which levers actually work in their business model. 

With 200 employees, 700 chairs, and over 40,000 members across Vistage’s international operations, Rob has learned a thing or two about cross-cultural leadership. 

“The problems CEOs face are surprisingly consistent across the world,” Rob said — including isolation, being stuck in the weeds, talent challenges, and growth. But leadership styles differ. Decision-making structures, communication norms, and hierarchy can vary significantly. 

The solution? Translate, don’t transplant. “A good business idea is a good business idea,” he said. “How you implement it must be sensitive to local customs.” 

Finally, Rob emphasised the value of building relationships before diving into execution. “Trust is the foundation of it all,” he said. And while trust-building may look different around the world — transactional in some cultures, relational in others — starting with a connection earns you latitude and builds buy-in. 

Rob’s leadership philosophy is built on clarity, focus, and humility — knowing the business well enough to identify what really matters, and trusting your team to deliver locally. Whether you lead in one market or many, the lessons are clear: align your strategy with reality, stay focused on key drivers, and lead with trust.