The Empty Chair
– About Taking a Place In Your Own Leadership

I have previously written about The Inner Leadership Space as the place where identity, values, experiences and perception of reality meet.

Through many years of working with leaders, one experience has become clear:

• It is not enough to have a role.
• You must take a place in it..

Taking a place is not a question of title or pace.

It is the moment when the leader can clearly say:

• This is what I stand for.

The Role Requires Position

Through many years of work with leaders, we see a clear pattern:

• When leaders primarily orient themselves towards external expectations, uncertainty arises.
• When they take an internal position, direction arises.

The question changes from:

“What is expected of me?”

to:

“What will I stand for here?”

This is where leadership becomes clear.

Competence is not enough.

Strategy is not enough.

Position is crucial.

Being able to stand by decisions, even when they are unpopular.

Maintaining direction, even when the environment is changing.

Creating stability, even when there is pressure.

It starts with the leader.

Strategy Lives On Clarity

We work with organisations where the strategies are often well thought out.

Yet we see it again:

• Initiatives lose momentum.
• Decisions become inconsistent.
• The organisation becomes wait-and-see.

This is rarely due to a lack of analysis.

This is due to a lack of clarity in the leadership position.

Organisations do not respond to plans.

They respond to signals.

If the leader hesitates, the organisation hesitates.

If the leader is clear, the organisation moves.

Therefore, the inner leadership space is not a personal development project.

It is a strategic necessity.

Taking Responsibility For One’s Position

The empty chair symbolises a choice.

You can move on.

Or you can sit down.

Sitting down is taking responsibility for your position.

Asking the questions that qualify the action:

• What does this direction mean to me?
• Where am I in doubt?
• What does the situation require me to be more clear about?
• What do I need to let go of in order to create movement?

These are short, decisive moments.

But they make the difference between decision and impact.

Coherence Creates Movement

When values, role and self-understanding are connected, stability arises.

It can be felt in the organisation.

Decisions become clear.

Priorities become understandable.

Trust is given better terms.

Because trust arises when there is coherence between what we say and what we do.

And coherence begins from within.

From Strategy To Reality

The Inner Leadership Space is not a tool.

It is the prerequisite for strategy to be translated into reality.

Here is the movement from strategy as a document

to strategy as lived practice.

Leadership begins the moment we take a seat.

It is not about doing more.

It is about seeing more clearly before we choose.

At Hjort & Frøik, we work to bring strategic decisions to life – through people.