As the founder and president of The Roundtable, Glain Roberts-McCabe—named one of Canada’s top women entrepreneurs at the 2018 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards—has devoted her career to helping leaders build community. Her company specializes in group coaching programs that help ambitious leaders navigate disruption, change and growth, and we’re thrilled to be working with her in bringing her wisdom and insights on peer coaching to the book world!

In The Grassroots Leadership Revolution: Build a Peer Coaching Community and Own Your Career (Spring, 2020), Glain will share the step-by-step process she uses in her award-winning Roundtable for Leaders program in a book to help anyone create their own peer coaching group, and together successfully navigate their leadership paths.

Read on to learn more about Glain, and what drives her.

What three words best describe you?
Dynamic, insightful, compassionate

What is your book about?
How ambitious leaders can leverage community to create career success. Stop trying to go it alone!

“I admire people who live life to their full potential and make an impact in their worlds—however big or small those worlds might be.”

Whom do you most admire?
I admire people who live life to their full potential and make an impact in their worlds—however big or small those worlds might be. I have worked with thousands of leaders whom I admire because they focus on doing their best to positively impact those they work with (not just on driving results). I admire (and am inspired by) the entrepreneurs I meet who are following their passions and helping others. I admire the quiet way my father left a legacy in the world of rugby football, and how my mother continues to make a difference in quiet but meaningful ways with family and friends.

What was the last book you read?
Becoming by Michelle Obama—incredible story and powerful life lessons.

Who is your favorite book or author?
I’m not sure I have a favorite (although my bookshelf would reveal my guilty pleasure of Sophie Kinsella books in my 30s). I love Brené Brown’s books for their down-to-earth wisdom and practicality, and I am addicted to biographies. I’m continually fascinated to read about other people’s highs and lows.

What was your first job?
Outside of babysitting my three younger brothers, my first real job was sticking mailing labels to issues of the Castor Review in my hometown of Russell, Ontario. It was a sweet gig that paid $5 an hour, which was much better than $1 an hour for babysitting.

What is your personal motto?
My father used to say that the Roberts family motto was, “Don’t get mad, get even.” I think I’ve channeled that into making sure that I prove people wrong who underestimate me. My own personal motto is a quote from Emily Dickinson: “I dwell in possibility.” I live my life with the view that everything is figureoutable.

Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration in nature, particularly when I’m near water. I’m addicted to the west coast of Canada and spend as much time on Vancouver Island as I possibly can.