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Run the Room

Everybody's already doing it

Published 8 months ago • 1 min read

Run the Room

Don't chase compliance. Broadcast momentum.

↓

Most follow-ups default to pressure:
“Just checking in.”
“Reminder.”
“Still waiting on a few people.”

It might feel neutral. It lands as nagging.
​
People don’t act because they’re nagged.
They act because they believe people like them are already acting.

Stop chasing what’s missing.
Start highlighting what’s moving.

In our coalition work, we never chase the laggards.
We spotlight the leaders.

“Thanks to majority of you who’ve already done X — especially Caro, Emmanuel, and Aisha. Those inputs will shape Y.”
“If you haven’t yet, you can still do X here by Friday.”

No scolding.
No roll call of failure.
Simply: momentum and a clear on-ramp.

Try this:

Make the action feel underway, not overdue.

In your next follow-up, a) start with who’s moved, b) say what their action unlocked, and c) then offer a clear way to catch up.

Don’t manage deficits. Lead like the thing is already happening—and it will.

🌿 Belonging drives action. Norms > nags.

🎉 We hit double digits!

This is issue #10 of Run the Room. So far, we’ve covered small shifts with big returns:

  • Silence as strategy
  • Owning the close
  • Birthday notes that build buy-in
  • Never starting from zero
  • Connecting before content
  • And more!

Which one have you used in real life?​
​Reply with a quick line or two—I’d love to hear!

Weekly insights on building influence without authority—so you can run the room, shape outcomes, and move systems.

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Run the Room

Get in the room. Run it. Change what happens when you leave. That's the work I do with senior leaders moving standards from concept to institutional adoption. My work has been featured in The New York Times, TIME, The Lancet, and Foreign Policy. Each Saturday, one short note on making it easy to move decisions that matter—three minutes to read, used in next week's meeting.

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