There’s Room at the Table: What’s Your Signature Dish?

The MIP Invitation

We’ve all heard the familiar expression, “There’s room at the table.” It is an invitation that conveys inclusion, opportunity, and belonging. But a seat at the table, while important, is only the beginning.

After all, what good is a seat if you have no voice in what’s being served?

And what happens when those gathered around the table are invited not only to enjoy the meal, but to help create it? That is when a simple gathering has the potential to become something extraordinary.

Earlier this bar year, MIP welcomed members home — inviting them to find their people, find where they fit and help build the community they want to be part of.

Now, we’re extending that invitation further.

As co-chairs of the North Carolina Bar Association’s Minorities in the Profession (MIP) Leadership Development Committee, we want to create opportunities for members not only to learn about leadership, but to practice it.

As we prepare for 2027, we’re inviting members to help shape MIP gatherings filled with professional growth, meaningful connections, shared experiences and opportunities to lead.

Hosting 101: Know Your Guests

Any good host knows that a memorable gathering requires thoughtful preparation. There are preferences to consider, ingredients to buy, and, most importantly, guests to understand.

Leadership development deserves the same attention.

Rather than selecting topics, inviting speakers and hoping the programming resonates, we want to hear from the members we’re inviting to the table.

• What challenges are you navigating?
• What skills do you hope to develop?
• What opportunities would help you grow?
• And what experiences or lessons could you share with someone else?

As co-chairs, we’re approaching this work as builders and students ourselves. We don’t have every answer about what leadership development should look like for MIP, and that’s precisely why we’re asking.

We’re not simply preparing a calendar of programs. We’re inviting members to help build something meaningful and lasting.

Planning a Menu for Different Appetites

No two guests arrive at a dinner table with precisely the same preferences. Some love the classics, others want to try something new and some have dietary preferences or allergies that a thoughtful host would never overlook.

If we know one of our guests is vegan, we make sure there’s something on the menu for them, too. A memorable gathering considers who is coming to the table, and not just what the host wants to serve.

Likewise, no two attorneys approach professional development with identical experiences, ambitions or needs. And needs and interests can also differ across government, public interest, private firms, corporate legal departments, academia, and other settings.

These interests do not have to compete. They are part of what makes our membership, and this profession, valuable.

Before we finalize the MIP menu for 2027, we want to know what would make leadership development meaningful to you.

Complete the MIP Leadership Development Survey.

While we cannot promise every idea will make its way onto the menu, we are committed to thoughtfully considering what is shared and letting member perspectives help shape what comes next.

What Dish Will You Bring?

Of course, some of the most memorable meals are those where everyone contributes something to the table. Every family has that cousin or auntie everyone calls for the macaroni and cheese, the person whose dish people know, respect, and count on.

Think about your professional version of that signature dish.

What do colleagues consistently come to you for?

What knowledge, skill, perspective, or connection are you known for bringing?

Maybe you are the person who can make a complicated issue understandable, connect two people who should know each other, coach a colleague through a transition or help a team turn an idea into action.

Don’t cook? No problem! Maybe you’re the one who brings the drinks, sets the table or simply knows how to bring everyone together.

MIP members bring those same varied strengths.

The associate seeking guidance on developing a book of business may have valuable insight into emerging technology. A seasoned litigator may mentor a colleague on courtroom advocacy while learning from another member’s experience in organizational leadership. A solo practitioner may share lessons in entrepreneurship that help someone considering a career transition.

We can each be students in one area and teachers in another.

Some members may lead an initiative or join a project team. Others may mentor, share a resource, facilitate a conversation or make an introduction. Meaningful participation should reflect members’ interests and realistic capacity.

You do not have to prepare the entire meal to make a valuable contribution.

Recipes Worth Passing Down

Some of the best recipes are passed from one generation to the next. In our profession, experience, institutional knowledge and relationships can be shared in much the same way.

Experienced members may serve as Institutional Anchors, offering guidance, sponsorship, introductions and perspective while leaving day-to-day ownership with the members leading the work.

There is a meaningful difference between reading a recipe and preparing a meal. One develops understanding; the other puts it to use. We want to create opportunities for members to exercise judgment, take responsibility, build relationships, and practice leadership, not simply attend another event.

We also hope to continue this conversation through member stories, including prospective features such as “When the Builder Becomes the Student” and “When Leaders Make Room.” These reflections will explore what it means to learn while creating opportunities for others, and what it means to make room for someone else to lead.

More to come as those conversations develop.

The First Ingredient Is Your Voice

The table is being set, but the menu has not yet been finalized.

Your responses to the MIP Leadership Development Interest Survey will help us understand what you want to learn, what you can contribute and what you may be interested in helping build.

At our next MIP committee meeting on Friday, November 13, at noon via Zoom, we plan to share what we heard, discuss emerging priorities and begin exploring how members can help shape opportunities for 2027.

We want this to be a continuing conversation, not simply a survey followed by a predetermined calendar.

Whether you are newly admitted to the profession, navigating the middle of your career or reflecting on decades of experience, your perspective is welcome.

This fall, we welcomed you home. Now we invite you to help shape what comes next.

Tell us what you would like to see on the menu, and share what you are willing to bring.

Join us in preparing something meaningful for the year ahead.

There’s room at the table. Let’s eat!

Bryan Sumner and Alex Gwynn serve as Co-Chairs of the NCBA Minorities in the Profession Leadership Development Committee.