The Seat

This week we’re talking about seats.

You know, that seat at the table that we all want.

Someone recently asked me a different kind of question:

Not, “How do we get the seat,” but rather, “What do we do with it when we get it?”

There are already a lot of misconceptions about what it is we do in corporate affairs and not to mention, the extended time it can take for our work to progress or show tangible impact.

So, all that compounds the pressure we have to make the right kind of impression.

This reframe of a topic we all talk about frequently has led me to think back to the times when I’ve had a seat at the table – literally, the big table where leadership team meetings are held.

I mistakenly thought that all I needed was to get in the room, and the rest would figure itself out.

Now, I realize that getting that seat was only the beginning.

Sure, hearing the different perspectives at the highest levels of corporate leadership – whether in-house or with clients – helped me understand my operating environment.

But that seat didn’t automatically give me a say in important discussions about the company’s future.

Nor did everyone else at the table think I had a right to be there.

I still think about if there was anything I should’ve or even could’ve done differently.

Probably?

I struggled with when to listen to my gut, when to chime in with certainty vs. ambiguity, when and to whom to ask questions.

I’m not saying these things are easy.

What I am saying is that, sometimes, there are more opportunities right in front of us to not only take a seat, but to take a stand.