Chair Case Study

Tasso Papachatgis, Chair of Syndicates #40 and #78, brings a wealth of leadership experience across diverse industries to The CEO Institute. With a passion for mentoring senior leaders and fostering high-performing teams, Tasso transforms hard-earned knowledge into collective wisdom that empowers executives to “master their leadership craft.” His approach blends strategic insight, storytelling, and candid peer discussions to create a trusted environment where CEOs can find clarity, balance, and the courage to grow.

Can you share a brief overview of your professional background and what led you to become a Chair for the CEO Syndicate?

I am fortunate in having an inspiring career across diverse industries and great leadership roles that are seen by our members as a powerful foundation for creating meaningful support within our trusted syndicate forums and format. The CEO Institute has always been a sharing environment that transforms hard-earned 'blood, sweat, and tears' type experience and knowledge into a collective wisdom bank, where like-minded leaders support each other as they forge new considered paths to each other’s definition of their success.

I Chair the two groups to put back my learnings and experience into current and future leaders’ career developments and assist them in transforming their quest to “Mastering their Leadership Craft”. I mentor curious Senior Leaders to discover new guided ways of working and being that are both enjoyable and rewarding along the way. The CEO Institute brings leaders challenges and resources together driving leaders to become more effective in creating high performing Senior Leadership teams that achieve positive outcomes for their surrounding key stakeholders. I want to keep assisting leaders towards finding their own effective style and power, to influence others, so that we can collectively transform our leadership charters, their systems, thinking, their career outcomes and in return for our society.

What motivated you to work with The CEO Institute, and how does the role of Chair align with your personal and professional values?

Working with The CEO institute eventuated from initial effective speaking engagements to several syndicate meetings from over 10 years ago. I presented as one of the subject matter experts on strategy development, delivering and leading sustainable profitable growth, succession and developing high performing teams and strategic alliances. They were well received, and I was fortunate enough to be invited to join the remainder of one of the meetings, as we resolved one of the members major strategic growth issues. A truly aligned supportive value of mine, and it was great seeing the groups engagement in not only the subject matter I was delivering but in each other’s support to the member’s challenge. The rest is history…

In your experience, what are the core qualities of a successful business leader, and how do you foster these in your syndicate sessions?

A successful leader has clarity of the direction of where the business is needing to go and purposefully engages its limited resources to get there. Exceptional leadership is about building bench strength—developing talent, fostering collaboration, and challenging individuals to reach their full potential even when they don’t realise their individual and team strengths, they possess.

All successful leaders that I have worked with are great story tellers (narrative delivery) and articulate their organization’s goals clearly, aligning the team and the stakeholders behind a unified purpose and strategic pathways to their designed success. Both my syndicate groups assist each other with candid views on mastering each other’s leadership styles and we foster open vulnerable discussions on our collective leadership and solutions development.

In what ways do you see The CEO Syndicate positively impacting the personal and professional lives of its members?

Both personal and professional lives are heavily impacted by the opportunity of openly sharing the things that are important to seek a balanced life and assist solving things that keep you up at night in your role and other outside of work challenges. The like-minded members getting together monthly allows a deep dive into those challenges to be considered and get a different perspective or an unbiased view of the considerations required to overcome them. It is said that it is lonely at the top, but it is even lonelier at the top when you lose the butterflies of the challenge to growing and the factors pushing you to the next level of achievement.

How do you stay informed on current business trends and issues, and how do you integrate this knowledge into your sessions?

Both current and future business trends and headwinds are woven into our monthly get togethers as we unpack the challenges and considerations from an external environment perspective. We collectively decode those challenges and their impacts on both our businesses and what it means to us personally. The Syndicate Group collaborating, fostering trust, and motivating each other to overcome known risks heading our way is where the real super-power is.

Completing deep dives on each other’s businesses and having subject matter experts present to us truly keeps us on the bleeding edge of being informed and having a view to their effects, not only in our personal and business life but also in other related leadership roles similar to the ones we occupy.

How do you balance providing guidance with encouraging business leaders to find their own solutions to business challenges?

I believe that mentoring and supporting each other provides an unbiased collective view to truly stretching each other out of our comfort zones and grounding our considered pathways to future success whilst facing a myriad of complexities in today's dynamic business environment. Mastering our craft and personal growth as leaders in business shouldn't rely on our comfort levels of achievement, but feel support around tapping our courageous growth mindsets along with the art and science of maximising performance within and working on our surrounding teams, is exactly the support The CEO Institute platform provides.

What lasting impact do you hope to leave on the CEOs you work with through The CEO Institute?

I think the impact and legacy CEOs get from our time together is feeling that they are held to account to being the best they can be in achieving the aspirational WANTS in life versus disappearing into their NEEDS focus. Opening their minds and not restricting their thinking and for them to truly feel challenged to be better would be the impact I would hope to make as I facilitate our monthly sessions. This group platform enables development and ideas for each other on our journeys as effective leaders within our chosen fields and businesses.

In essence, the core qualities of a successful leader combine vision, strategic focus, empowerment, and an unwavering commitment to team development and self-achievement – All things that are existing within The CEO Institute forums and its members reciprocating offerings to each other.