I had the pleasure and honor of attending my first BPI Senior Executive Board
(SEB) meeting since joining BPI earlier this year. I have worked in the talent space for nearly 15 years now, and have known about BPI’s SEB for several of those years. It was even more extraordinary than I have been told. The most amazing parts of it are hidden behind the curtain when the Senior Executive Board takes their “seat at the table.”
So on Monday morning, when I, and our entire BPI Senior Executive Board arrived at MasterCard’s Corporate HQ in Purchase, NY to be escorted by MasterCard’s Chief Talent Officer David Deacon to his executive board room, there was a seat for each of us. This of course is nothing new for David, or for any of our board members who are used to having their own seat at the table -what was new however was what magic was about to happen.
While beautiful, the table and the board room is just a place to house this meeting. The 
true magic comes from the board members themselves, the design of the meeting, facilitation from its founder, Louis Carter, and care that was placed into the design. Carter made it look so easy – however if you look at the details, it was one of the most difficult designs and facilitation you can accomplish — the facilitation of the best facilitators on earth! To lead the world’s top leaders of leaders is no easy feat. Yet, it was done gracefully, and tactfully with a great deal of thought and care for each individual member and their specific needs.
I am sure you can picture sitting around a board table, discussing the future of work with a group of C-Level HR and Talent executives from some of the world’s most successful global organizations (in fact in the case of board member and Saudi Aramco’s VP of Talent, THE world’s most successful company, generating over $1B per day!)
For two days, we benchmarked, engaged in deep and meaningful conversation and developed new methodologies on how to manage talent today, next year and in 2020! We
were joined by special guests like Pepsico’s Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Mehmood Khan, who shared insights of how he built the R&D department from the groundup. Those insights are of particular interest to our board, especially CHROs, SVPs of Leadership, CTOs and CLOs of companies like QBE, Cigna, Humana, CIT, Hopkins Manufacturing, KeyBank, Baxalta and many others who are looking to build best and next practice talent functions of their own in their organizations.
We took part in buddy activities that will last throughout the year, and help each other achieve our goals and objectives. We studied each other’s requirements for moving to the next level, and dug deep into our own issues and wishes. We all left reinvigorated, with a renewed sense and awareness for what we want to accomplish. 
The conversation lasted well into the evening, as we then headed back to the Ritz-Carlton for a private dinner. Not just any dinner, but a true OD experience incorporating leading methods developed by BPI’s Founder & CEO Louis Carter, including Feed Forward, Servant Leader, Buddy System, and other tools that create an environment within BPI’s Board which is unmatched anywhere else. There were deep shares and building of relationships that enabled thinking about our past, present, and future.
If you missed this meeting, there will be more. Let me tell you though, this meeting was nothing short of extraordinary. I could not give it justice with words. There is a special something that happens between highly accomplished senior executives when brought together in this forum with purpose. It is a tangible transformation that occurs between and among individuals in the group – that they take back to their companies. They renew and reinvigorate themselves and their companies and then leave the meeting and world a better place for having them in it. When you join the Board, you join a movement to make the world of work better.
If you head up your organization’s HR, Talent Management or L&D functions and you want to learn how you can participate at the next meeting, you can click here and schedule time on my calendar or email me. Want to hear more about BPI’s Senior Executive Board experience, click here to view a few short videos.
