Mentoring doesn’t need to be a one-on-one experience. Amplify your impact to empower.
Ambition is What You Want for YOUR Future
In my last role, I used to host "Tables of 6" lunches. As I showed up at our various offices around the country, I'd send out a note to the office saying, "First five people to respond get lunch on me."
And I took five random people (no, they didn't need to report to me) to lunch. What would we talk about? Anything they wanted to. Inevitably we'd end up talking about ambitions - personal, professional, and everything in between.
I learned to love having these lunches. I challenged myself not to speak and just listen and encourage the speaker.
Why were they often so powerful? Because ambitions are unique to each individual. They're also rarely discussed in open forums. They're private conversations between trusted friends. And in a professional or one-on-one setting, there's too much pressure.
When asked to share their ambitions with their co-workers, I've noticed people tend to worry about selfishness or scarcity.
The lunch framework, with my questions as a catalyst, meant that the conversation about ambitions became more collaborative. Conversations shifted from "I" to "We." The perception of selfishness moved to generosity.
Generous ambition, it's quite the concept.
It's worth noting that while these lunches were supposed to be all about the individuals at the table. I often learned more in the process than I could ever imagine.
I want to give credit to the originator of the spontaneous lunches. I wasn't the originator. The founder of Pandora, Tim Westergren, showed me the power of a simple lunch. And now I'm passing it along to you.
EXPERIMENT
Here’s the email. Copy, paste, and send. If you’re working remotely, pick a delivery service and set up your virtual platform of choice. No rules. Just let the serendipity manifest.
Your intro,
I’ve decided today I’d like to host 5 people for lunch. Yes, lunch on me. xxxx time today. The first five people who respond will get instructions on where to meet / the zoom link, and instructions on how to order delivery. If you miss this lunch, don’t worry. I’ll be doing it again. I look forward to checking in with 5 of you.
Your outtro
It’s that simple. And just a thought, you don’t have to be a people leader to do this.
AMPLIFY
When was the last time you asked your boss what their ambitions were? Turn the tables and ask your boss if they want an Ambition Lunch with you. Imagine you had a preview into their hopes and dreams. Bonus, ask a couple of your cross-functional colleagues to join you. It’s an easy Amplification.
INVEST
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