Looking back at our CEO Roundtable

In my experience as a trainer and coach, I hear similar comments and questions from client to client. These clients are often Founders and CEOs, and the patterns become signals about the larger landscape of the world and what leaders are facing in a global sense.

So it was no surprise that by early April, I was having consistent conversations around: how does one’s leadership style change in the middle of a crisis? COVID-19 shut the world down, creating uncertainty and volatility. (For more on this, check out the post about VUCA.) 

These leaders wanted to step forward, speak up, and take action. But how?

That’s why we mixed things up. We provided a roundtable for Founders and CEOs, in hopes we might brainstorm some of these issues together. And also to help them realize that they were not alone. 

For our first meeting, I asked for questions in advance, wanting to maximize our time together. We spoke as a large group. We broke out into smaller groups. Then we came back together to share our learnings.

After our first set of meetings, participants were eager to continue. So we set up a second set of meetings with new topics to explore.

Paul Jaglowski shared his thoughts about why he wanted to continue. “My biggest takeaway is how comforting and reassuring it is to have a community of individuals who are in a similar position of leadership to run ideas by, and lean on for advice on a consistent basis,” he said. “The sensitivity of the current macro environment (e.g. impact of COVID) has made it extremely important to have a sounding board of fellow CEOs and senior leaders who are also having to make critical business decisions on a weekly basis.”

Braden Rawls was also kind enough to share her thoughts on the experience and why it resonated in such a time. “It has been helpful to connect with other small business leaders during this turbulent time to gain perspective on the fast-changing business landscape and receive objective feedback as we navigate the path forward,” she shared.

“After engaging in these roundtables, I feel more confident in my ability to navigate the uncertain months ahead and lead my team forward with positive and transparent company communication. Despite coming from a range of businesses, the leaders in this group share similar responsibility and decision-making authority – making for engaging and productive discussions. The format of the group established trust quickly, allowing for open and meaningful conversations.”

The format of the smaller groups and the predetermined topics helped keep us focused and made it clear what each person would come away with. “The small group has allowed me to better understand each person's organization and experience better than in larger groups,” shared Ryan Szwejkba. “I believe this allows us to have more impactful conversations around certain topics.”

“My biggest takeaway has been that I can sometimes get stuck in my own work bubble,” he said. “Interacting with leaders from different organizations and different industries provides a positive and unique perspective to the challenges that I am facing. There is a lot of overlap in obstacles that leaders face and it has been highly beneficial for me to talk through how others have solved some of these challenges.”

There it is. You (and we) are not alone.