𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 𝟖 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑 & 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐃

Thursday, August 11th, I hosted a signature 8 Woman Mastermind Dinner in Montreal.

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐨 𝐈 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧? This was my second Mastermind dinner in Montreal. Now I have members of the Women’s Leadership Lab in the city. I relied on their recommendations and introductions as well as direct messaging on LinkedIn to select the 8 senior business leaders who would sit at the table. Oftentimes, members from New York will use this as an opportunity to travel to a new city and join as well. I host a very specific kind of conversation design, so the dinner is either in a private dining room of a restaurant in each city or, in the case of Montreal, in a private home with a private chef. Otherwise, its tough to compete with the ambient noise of a loud restaurant. I also create a landing page with the photos and LinkedIn profiles of each attendee. This way, the networking can begin long before the dinner.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 “𝐚 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫?” Each day, in the lede up to the dinner, I also publish lengthier profiles of each attendee so the dinner is less ‘discovery’ and more of a true discussion once we are at the table. Upon registration in the ticketing link Eventbrite, each attendee fills out a self-audit, with questions such as “What is a goal right now? What does success look like? What is a challenge?” The answer to the last question becomes the fodder for discussion. The attendee gets to crowdsource an answer to her challenge fro all the smart brains in the room.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫? In a round robin fashion, I’ll ask each attendee to introduce herself with an ice breaker question. This year, I’ve been asking “What has been your biggest discovery during the last 18 months?” Then I move into questions such as “Why do we need more women leaders?” What is the significant barrier to women entering into leadership?” THEN — we get to the challenges. By this point, everyone is warmed up. My goal is to crowdsource real tactical answers to each person’s challenges. Anyone with a possible solution can weigh in. To close the dinner I ask everyone, in a round robin fashion, to acknowledge both the idea and the person who shared a piece of advice that will stay with them long after the dinner.

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫? I host Mastermind calls with my members 4x a week. It’s a recurring brain-date to crowdsource answers to the challenges that come up weekly. Entrepreneurs who work in a silo, like the sounding board. Corporate women like the idea of an independent sounding board to work out leadership challenges