Not everyone gets a chair...

Two weeks ago, I asked you to think about the six people sitting at your Leadership Roundtable.

And I told you that when I gave this exercise to a room full of professional women, 85% of them had a hard time filling all of the chairs.

Here's what I realized as I watched them wrestle with it:

Most of us have networks...

But that doesn't mean we have a Leadership Roundtable.

You probably know a LOT of people.

People you've worked with for years. People with impressive titles. People you grab coffee with. People you trust and genuinely enjoy.

But knowing someone doesn't automatically qualify them for a chair.

The people you choose for your Roundtable are special.

These are the people whose knowledge, perspective and relationship with you are strong enough that you actually want them influencing what happens next.

Take your Challenger, for example.

This isn't just somebody who disagrees with you. Lord knows, we can all find plenty of those. :)

It's someone who disagrees AND whose opinion you deeply respect.

Someone who might look you square in the eye and say, "Jes, that idea is BS. You've been talking about it for five years and you haven't done a damn thing about it."

THAT person gets a chair.

And here's another mistake we make: We look at titles.

We assume the person who's five years ahead of us should be at the table. But maybe not!

It's not always our boss or the experienced person in the room.

Your Leadership Roundtable isn't an org chart.

Your Sponsor needs to know your work well enough to add to your credibility in a room you're not in.

Your Coach doesn't need to have the fanciest title. They need to see your potential, ask the crucial questions that help you see your patterns and push you.

Your Connector isn't simply someone who knows a lot of people. They turn those relationships into strategic introductions. 

And that Next Gen Voice?

They may not even work in your industry, but they see the world in way you don't. (Socially, culturally, politically...)

That's the formula.

Not: Do I know someone who could fill this chair?

But:

Who has EARNED this chair?

So... go back to the Roundtable you started building last week and look at those names again.

• Did you choose them because they're already in your network?

• Because their title made sense?

• Because they were the obvious choice?

• Or are they truly the person you want sitting in that chair?

Because this is YOUR table. You're the CEO... and YOU make the invitations.