By: Will Jones
Raising children is a challenging task, but it can be deeply satisfying. Watching someone you have nurtured grow into an individual can bring a strong sense of accomplishment. To reach this, you need to put in consistent effort and cultivate a healthy environment for your children as they grow.
Fortunately, that is precisely what Lee Benson’s DinnerTable.com specializes in. Intentional family conversations can be a highly effective catalyst for raising competent, capable, and moral adults, and Dinner Table helps parents and children develop these kinds of relationships.
Who Is Lee Benson?
Lee is an experienced business professional with over 30 years of expertise in value creation. Today, he is the acting CEO of Execute to Win, which helps organizations of all sizes increase the value they create. His journey toward value creation began early when he pulled weeds for 25 cents an hour at age six. Since then, Lee has founded eight companies, including Able Aerospace, which he grew from two to 500 employees and 2,000 customers in 60 countries.
He is a CEO, author, and renowned speaker on value creation, leadership, execution, and strategy. Lee’s work has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Inc., as well as in major media outlets such as CNBC and Bloomberg.
Lee is also CEO of DinnerTable.com. Dinner Table is a community of families raising kids who create value in the world, with over 40,000 parents.
What is Dinner Table?
Dinner Table equips parents with tools and a community to raise capable kids who create material, emotional, and spiritual value. Families follow the organization’s guidelines for attending monthly meetings, joining peer groups, and using resources to build character, capability, and contribution.
This process transforms passive family routines into active traditions that build value. Lee believes the home is one of the most under-leveraged classrooms for leadership and character development and aims to help parents recognize the potential within their families.
He has worked with over 4,000 high school students on the virtues of entrepreneurship and value creation.
Lee also leads several Dinner Table communities monthly, where families share wisdom and support each other in creating value.
Inspiration Behind the Innovation
Lee came from a low-income family, which shaped all his future work. As a child, he saw how poverty affected families and how difficult it could be to break that cycle. Building generational wealth can be challenging, and early messages can shape beliefs. Lee aims to change these mindsets and limiting beliefs in low-income families, especially among kids. Research supports these observations, showing that poverty can shape how children view themselves, their abilities, and their future opportunities. Education and child development research indicate that children raised in low-income environments often internalize limiting beliefs about what they can achieve, which can persist into adulthood if left unaddressed.
These challenges are also reflected in educational outcomes. According to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), nearly 70% of low-income fourth-grade students cannot read at a basic level. Additionally, 49% of fourth graders eligible for free and reduced-price meals scored below the “Basic” level on the NAEP reading assessment. Early literacy gaps such as these can compound over time, reinforcing broader inequities.
He details, “Most of the untapped potential for value creation in the world is locked up in low-income family kids.”
These children don’t always have access to the resources to reach their full potential, and if nothing is done, they may not realize that potential. Fortunately, Dinner Table works to establish healthy habits that foster greater emotional intelligence and access to invaluable resources for these children.
Why Dinner Table?
For Lee, the drive is simple. “Kids today will be running the world of tomorrow, and I want it to be a positive one. I focus on creating a value-creation culture within families to improve how kids show up as adults.”
Mahatma Gandhi once famously said, “If we are to reach real peace in this world, we shall have to begin with children,” and Lee has taken this mantra to heart. His work aims to help kids develop character traits and capabilities associated with long-term success, while challenging limiting beliefs, all of which can contribute to their success as adults.
Unlike others in the industry who focus on a single tool, such as financial literacy, Lee Benson takes a more holistic approach. Through his new book, Value Creation Family: The Proven Playbook for Setting Up Your Family to Enjoy True Success, Benson helps families set the foundation for a successful future. He and his team help families foster well-rounded, healthy children. The goal is for these children to grow into successful adults.
