Wow! The day is finally here. We’re so excited to unveil the new and evolved Roundtable website and logo. It’s been months in the making… as long as being pregnant in fact…and here we are with our brand new baby. As Founder of The Executive Roundtable, the process has caused me to reflect on what brought us to this point and where we are heading in the future.
When I launched The Executive Roundtable, my goal was to create a new option in the leadership development space. Something that combined coaching, mentoring, learning, reflection, application, peer feedback and support…something that provided a platform for immediate application. ‘Leadership isn’t learned in a binder!’ was my rallying cry. I was interested in topics and content that was tailor-made for leaders who aspired to join the executive suite. High potential and high performing mid-level leaders who were ambitious, engaged and… (secretly)…overwhelmed. I wanted to create an community where leaders could learn together, support each other and provide reality checks as needed. I wanted our organization to appeal to people who aspired for more. My plan was to create an organization like the ones that have long been available to CEO’s… but exclusively for the mid-career, mid-level leader.
We started with a one to one executive mentoring program and quickly followed with membership and breakfast events to build the community and network. I got to meet some amazing leaders over that time – Phyllis Yaffe, Charles Brown, Peter Aceto, Wayne Bossert, Christine Magee to name a few. In 2010, we launched our peer coaching program (The Roundtable for Leaders). I still remember how nervous I was that first night when the group showed up for the initial peer coaching session. Would it work? What if they hated it? But they didn’t…they loved it.
Despite the positive response we were getting, the early days of entrepreneurship are just plain tough. We had to sell our house. All my money was going back into the business. I felt like I was grinding on a daily basis.
And then in 2010, Janey Piroli (then at PepsiCo Foods Canada) asked me if we could bring our Roundtable for Leaders program onsite to PepsiCo as a way to help them with accelerating integration of their foods businesses (Quaker and FritoLay). Initially, I wasn’t sure. I thought I had to bring leaders together from different companies to maintain confidentiality and candour. But Janey and I were both game to give it a try. So we did. And it was great. One senior leader said that the program was a ‘game changer’ for them. In 2014 we won an award for the Roundtable program that we implemented with PepsiCo. It’s still running there. The leaders I’ve met through my work there are second to none. The program has strengthened each year and the opportunity they gave us paved the way to more inhouse work.
From PepsiCo, we brought Roundtable programs to CAA South Central Ontario, WINDMobile, Torstar, Royal Bank, Tangerine, Aecon, tiff…and on, and on. We started to get asked to do our sessions for more senior people and more junior people. I wasn’t sure if that would work… afterall, they’d been designed for mid-career people. But, we worked with some awesome clients and we gave it a try. And it worked. And it dawned on me that the work that we were doing in helping leaders grow their leadership behaviours and strengthen their mindsets is important at any level.
As a team, we started to feel that ‘Executive’ was limiting. I started to recognize that the work we do could truly help leaders at all stages of career. And besides… everyone calls us The Roundtable anyway, so why not get more focused?
And so began the journey. We interviewed clients, we heard what they said… and we were humbled. From their words, we developed our manifesto. This is how we work…this is who we are.
Our new name – The Roundtable – and new tagline: where leaders cultivate leadership, together – encapsulates so well who we are and who we’re for…which is anyone looking to build and grow their leadership capability and capacity. After that, not much else has changed. We continue to care passionately about the success of each of our individual program members and alumni. We continue to keep looking for ways to engage you – our community – in building content and approaches that work for you. And, we continue to look forward to partnering with our clients to create programs that make a difference.
We are truly leadership cultivating our leadership together…and I am so thankful to everyone who has been on this journey with us to-date. To those that are joining us. Welcome! We look forward to having you be a part of this fun, crazy, inspiring ride. Together we are going to change the world through being better leaders for our teams, our organizations, our community and the planet. How awesome is that?!
Happy leading!
