A BIGGER TABLE
A BIGGER TABLE
Small groups. Big impact. One table at a time.
Hierarchy shapes how people speak in formal settings. Change the environment, and the conversation shifts with it. When a discussion moves from a conference room to a shared table, titles still exist, but they soften in their influence. Curiosity rises. People listen more closely. Perspective travels more freely across levels.
“I’ve seen how powerful it can be when a senior leader sits down with no agenda other than to listen and engage.”
A Bigger Table grew from that understanding. I designed it as a structured way to bring small, cross-functional groups together with a senior leader for dinner. There are no slides and no prepared remarks. The conversation centers on the business, what’s working, what feels strained, and how decisions are experienced throughout the organization.
Each dinner includes no more than ten people, which allows for range without losing depth. Being outside the office lowers the performative edge that formal meetings often carry and creates room for candor. When leaders show up to listen and engage, participants experience access in a way that feels direct and unfiltered, and that experience reshapes how they view both leadership and their own role in the organization.
Over time, these dinners shift perception in practical ways. A junior colleague hears how strategic decisions are framed at the top. A senior leader gains insight into how those same decisions land in daily work. Patterns emerge that rarely surface in formal reviews. Trust develops through repeated, shared conversation rather than announcement.
REPEATABLE BY DESIGN
The concept itself is simple. It doesn’t require a large budget or an elaborate framework. It can be repeated in any geography with intention and consistency. I knew it was working when I began to see it replicated across regions in a global organization, adapted to different cultures but grounded in the same principle of access and dialogue. The most meaningful signal came later, when the practice continued without me. It had moved from initiative to habit.
A Bigger Table is deliberate design. When leaders create structured proximity and repeat it over time, dialogue becomes part of how the organization operates. Decision quality improves because perspective enters the room earlier. The impact compounds through consistency rather than scale.
And yes, good food helps.
