A Seat at The Table Doesn't Give You Real Power, By Olufemi Awoyemi

Some will consider this line provocative because it challenges a deeply comforting myth that goes on to add that ‘if you are not at the table, you are on the menu’.

However, ancient wisdom suggest that we conflate 2 different mindsets (and understanding of power) here, as palace couriers have discovered. Indeed, the table is designed to also accomodate ‘useful idiots’. It helps to know which one you are when ‘at the table’.

The “a seat at the table” cliche has been presented as the ultimate symbol of inclusion, access, and influence. But proximity is not power, presence is not authority, and visibility is not control.

History is full of people who were technically “in the room” and “at the table” but structurally irrelevant. They could speak, but not shape outcomes. They could observe, but not veto. They were there to legitimise decisions already made. Dissent often carry consequences.

The uncomfortable truth is that power is not about seating. Power is about leverage.

YourWesterousGuy’s perspective captures this succintly: “A seat at the table does’nt give you real power. Information gives you power, Secrets gives you power. So, learn to be useful, and never be considered dangerous to cause. Be close enough to matter, but far enough to avoid rapt attention. In a room full of people scrambling to get close to power; be that one person that understands that true power doesnt need to be close to anything, it stands on his own.”

Leverage is thus defined by who sets the agenda, who controls information, who has the secrets (intel), who allocates resources, who bears risk, and who can say NO without consequence.

In corporate governance, token independent directors sometimes discover this too late. In politics, minority coalition partners learn that cabinet positions don’t equal influence. In business, minority shareholders realise board seats do not override controlling stakes.

And as you would have observed, sometimes even the ‘useful idiots’ I referred to earlier, sit at powerful tables. They understand their role and place (most do). They are present to nod, endorse, absorb criticism, or create the illusion of diversity in the exercise of power.

But here’s the nuance. A seat at the table can be the beginning of power, if it is paired with strategy.

The strategy for real power requires (demands) character!

Character, rather than positioning, is the biggest building block in the power game. It is what power is about; and character isnt just about what people say, or do in moments of crisis.

Character is revealed in the small choices. The unconscious habits, the things people do when they think it does’nt matter; what suddenly makes a meeting about nothing, become a window into everything.

Sometimes the most important things are never spoken at all. Sometimes, character is revealed not in what people say, but in how they move, when and where they say it, where they seat, and what they reach for, when they think no one is watching. But then, someone is always watching and listening to every choice we make.

Without character, the seat is furniture. Conversely, with character, the seat becomes a platform.

So the more accurate framing may be: “A seat at the table is access. Power is what you can do with that access.”