Tom Cuthbert

The Pat Hyndman Award

This story starts with a simple phone call from Tim Gray. Tim is one of the regional SVPs at Vistage. This happens frequently, so I didn’t think it was out of the ordinary to get a text from him asking if I had a few minutes for a phone call.

“Hey, there’s two things I need to mention.” He said.

“Okay,” I replied.

“The first is; I’ve nominated you for the Pat Hyndman Award. You know, the legendary Vistage chair and former CEO?”

I can remember thinking, “Wow, that’s really quite an honor!”

Simply being nominated was humbling and I was grateful for the opportunity. 

Remembering that he’d mentioned two things at the start of our conversation, I asked him what the second thing was.

“You won.” He said.

Pat Hyndman

Pat Hyndman was a long-time Vistage chair, maintaining his involvement with the organization right up until his death in 2013. He was 98 years old.

He didn’t consider himself old, even in his 90’s. To Pat, aging happened when you stopped learning and loving. Even at 98, Pat Hyndman was still learning and loving.

I met him back in 2011, at a mixer for those interested in joining Vistage. At the time, I wasn’t sure that I would become a member. I’d shown up to explore the opportunity and see if it would be a good fit for me. The process for joining Vistage involved a week-long trip to San Diego that involved interviews, training, and a mixer, like the one where I met Pat. 

I’m in a room with twenty-four other potential chairs, and here was this 96-year-old man who shuffled over and introduced himself. He had a firm handshake and he looked directly into my eyes as he spoke to me. He showed a sincere interest in not just me but all twenty-four of us in my training class. He took time to ask questions and engage with us.

Looking back on that interaction with him, I realize Pat’s demeanor and genuine spirit changed how I was thought about joining Vistage.

Here’s a guy, at 96, who could be doing a lot of other things at 96. Or not.

Instead, he was choosing to spend his time spreading his beliefs and passion for Vistage. It didn’t matter if those people were committed to sharing that belief, or even considering joining the organization or not.

That alone said a lot about who he was.

Most importantly, it said a lot about how strongly he felt about the community. 

The Pat Hyndman Award

Recipients of the Pat Hyndman award are nominated by the regional executives, as Tim Gray had done.

The criteria for the award isn’t based on numbers or hitting goals. It’s stated simply as follows;

“Given to the Vistage Chair who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in service of Vistage and given unselfish and immeasurable service.” 

Pat Hyndman at one time served as CEO of Vistage, during the recession caused by the housing crisis. Vistage was suffering, like all businesses, but Pat didn’t let it get in the way of planning for the future. Instead of running from it, he embraced it. He paved the way for a time of extraordinary growth and change. Even after his tenure as CEO, he remained with Vistage and continued to contribute to the community.

I’m not surprised an award was named after him, as he embodied “unselfish and immeasurable service.”

Other Recipients

The Pat Hyndman Award was created in 2007 and has been handed out to at least one Vistage Chair a year since. Three of these previous winners I’ve had the privilege to know and who’ve made a serious impact on me.

Brant Houston

The first one is Brant Houston.

I met Brant as I was going through the selection process to become a Vistage Chair. Brant’s a long-time Vistage member, chair, and a Pat Hyndman Award recipient. He was leading the selection process for new members.

He put me through a diligent process and his questions were just phenomenal. They weren’t easy, not at all, but I recall thinking, “these are really hard questions.” They were amazing questions though as I was forced to genuinely reflect upon myself, my career, and what it meant to be a Vistage Chair.

I got to know Brant and I worked with him. He was at my very first Vistage meeting to help me get launched. He was, and still is, an incredible contributor and has a willingness to do anything that could help me or other chairs in their practice.

I’m really grateful for Brant.

Bob Dabic

A long-time chair and outstanding instructor, I met Bob Dabic during my training. It was during that first week when I was learning anything and everything about Vistage. I had Bob as one of my teachers and I remember the exercises he put us through, how hard he pushed us. These activities were inspiring to me because they were less about learning and remembering things as they were about doing. They pushed me, personally and professionally, in a way I hadn’t experienced before.

I was really impressed with Bob during that first week. I can remember thinking, early on in my Vistage experience, “Out of the Vistage Chairs that I know, who would I want to be like?”

Bob was a good example of the type of person I wanted to become.

Robin Stanaland

The last recipient who’s made an impact on me is Robin Stanaland.

Robin is part of my chair group I attend with chairs from Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. We’ve met every other month for the last seven years, and during that time she’s become both a friend and a mentor to me. She truly cares about other people and her members.

She’s taught me a ton about being a Chair. Her feedback and coaching have been extraordinarily valuable to me. Robin has taken the time to come over from Houston to attend one of my meetings. Afterward, she provided feedback that was honest and helped me improve.

Robin won the Hyndman Award in 2009, and every award that Vistage has, including our highest honor, the Cope Award.

Am I Worthy?

Brant, Bob, and Robin truly exemplify the traits that the Hyndman Award is really about.

Knowing these recipients has been a privilege and I look at all I’ve learned from them, and how they’ve helped me so much in the past.

I feel unworthy.

I’m also inspired.

To have been granted this award makes me grateful. I’m grateful for the recognition, to be nominated and picked out of over 600 chairs in the entire Vistage community. It also raises the bar for me.

What more can I do?

How can I help this community that’s helping so many leaders to make an impact? An impact that goes beyond their company to their families and in their communities.

Being the 2018 recipient of the Hyndman Award has changed the way I think about the future. I’ve observed the impact other Hyndman Award winners have had on their communities. It’s inspiring to me. 

It inspires to think about how I could better serve our community. 

The bar for my performance has also been raised. Winning the Hyndman Award reminds me that I should always be getting better. Part of that is to find ways to learn and grow and become more effective in the work that I do.

Finally, having my name be mentioned in the same sentence as Brant Houston, Bob Dabic, Robin Stanaland, and Pay Hyndman is a humbling experience.

And humility is something that we can all use more of...especially me!