Pull Up A Chair #1

Welcome to the first post in a new Friday series: Pull Up a Chair.

Each week, I’ll share short reflections from leadership practice, research, and lived experience—stories and questions about how leaders build stronger organizations and healthier cultures.

Let’s start with a simple question.

Have you ever sat in a meeting where a critical decision was being made… and quietly thought:

The wrong people are at this table.

Or maybe the issue wasn’t who was there.

It was who wasn’t.

Someone with direct knowledge of the work.

Someone impacted by the decision.

Someone who might see the problem differently.

Over the years, I’ve watched many organizations struggle—not because leaders lack intelligence or commitment, but because the decision-making table is incomplete.

The conversation is happening.

The strategy is being debated.

But the system is missing key voices.

Leadership is not just about making decisions.

It’s about building the conditions where the right decisions can emerge.

And that often begins with one deceptively simple question:

Who should be part of this conversation that isn’t here yet?

There’s a quote I return to often:

"Surround yourself with people who fight for you in rooms you aren't in."

The idea is simple but powerful. Strong leaders build teams and cultures where people advocate for one another—where colleagues speak up for the integrity, character, and contributions of others even when they’re not present.

That kind of leadership doesn’t happen by accident.

It requires building a table where trust exists, where people feel ownership of the mission, and where the success of others is something worth protecting.

Leadership thinkers like Simon Sinek and Daniel Pink remind us that people are motivated by purpose, autonomy, and the feeling that their voice matters. When leaders widen the table—bringing in the perspectives, expertise, and lived experiences that shape the real work of the organization—something powerful happens:

Better information enters the room.

Assumptions get challenged.

People feel ownership in the outcome.

And the quality of decisions improves.

In my experience, the strongest organizations aren’t the ones with the smartest people in the room.

They’re the ones that have learned how to build the right room in the first place.

I’ll leave you with a question:

When you look around the decision-making tables in your organization…

Who is missing?