By Glain Roberts-McCabe, President
On Thursday, November 15th, we hosted the 5th annual Roundtable alumni conference – Recharge. For those of you unfamiliar with it, we essentially invite all our program graduates to come back together for a day of learning, networking and – you guessed it – recharging. We cap the event at 50 attendees so that the networking value is high and the event feels intimate and interactive.
Here are 5 (non-content related) takeaways from this year’s event:
1) Development is a strategic investment in yourself – don’t forget that. I get it. We’re all ‘busy’ but here’s the thing: lots of people at Recharge told me that they nearly cancelled that day because they were so swamped. 100% of those same people told me how glad they were that they attended that day. It’s really easy to get stuck in short-term thinking when we’re drowning in tactical requirements. Stepping out of your job is a strategic investment in yourself, and it’s important!
What strategic investment are you going to make in yourself in the next 4 weeks?
2) We crave realness. I’m always super proud of the fact that the speakers we have at Recharge bring their 100% authentic selves to the conversation. There’s no posturing and no bullshit executive speak. But what’s even cooler is that our attendees do the same thing. So many comments came from the group about the number of authentic and real conversations that were being had in the room.
How can you bring more of your real self to your leadership practice?
3) The Roundtable tribe is f*cking impressive. Every single year we run this event there is one consistent theme that we get from all our speakers, but Jean Francois Menard called it out to the crowd directly. You can’t pick your family but you can pick the people you choose to associate with. We are so proud of our amazing tribe of leaders that we’re going to be spending a good chunk of 2019 looking for more ways to bring the group together.
Who do you need to be spending more time with and what do you need to do to make that happen?
4) You can have too much of a good thing. Our group at the Roundtable loves to raise the bar. As such, I think sometimes we get carried away. We hauled a lot of unopened gifts and items back to our office because we tried to pack so much into our day that we couldn’t keep up. Sometimes it’s important to step back and simplify.
What are you over-engineering that could benefit from a little bit of ‘less is more’?
5) Everyone needs a Shelby. If you’re a recent grad of the Roundtable program, you will know Shelby very well. She’s our fearless programs manager and Recharge is her baby. Words can’t really do justice to how much love and attention Shelby puts into this event but it goes without saying that we all benefit from her extra attention to detail and unbridled enthusiasm to make it the best event ever. Whoever thinks millennials are entitled hasn’t met Shelby. (BTW – She also won a Silver Medal for employee of the year at the international Stevie Awards. If you don’t have a Shelby, you need one… just don’t take ours. J)
Who’s your Shelby and have you told him/her how awesome they are lately?
Check back for more Recharge content, and if you’re a Roundtable alum, don’t forget to register for Recharge 2019 at a special early bird rate!
