Your Leadership Space – Obstacle or Enabler?

Sum recently celebrated a first: our inaugural sum summit. We gathered 50 senior leaders from 18 countries in the Swiss mountains, to experience and explore a shared question: 

What makes a space effective to host the conversations that truly matter?

Getting seasoned executives to leave behind boardrooms and PowerPoints required a jolt. Blindness was that jolt. Our friend Joost Rigter, who lost his eyesight at 26, invited us into his world. Blindfolded, we moved through space guided only by voices and touch—connecting with strangers in total darkness. Something remarkable happened. Stripped of our usual social armor, our conversations deepened. We met each other not through roles, but presence.

Unlike Joost, we had the privilege of stepping out of darkness. And with it, a second chance: to see each other—and ourselves—afresh. From that space of discomfort, we explored what makes leadership spaces come alive. Through check-ins, walk & talks, storytelling over dinner, rhythm, small-group work, and candid dialogue, we explored how spaces lead us, individually and collectively.

We often know what poor meetings feel like:

• Lack of clarity
• The wrong people in the room
• Tension that goes unspoken
• Low energy, no ownership
• People playing it safe, or playing to win

But contrast that with a different experience:

• Everyone shows up engaged and present
• The question is clear and meaningful
• The space invites listening and contribution
• Diverse views surface, tensions are addressed
• The session ends with energy, clarity, and shared commitment

What makes the difference? It’s not just skill. It’s the architecture of the space we hold—and how intentionally we do it.

At SUM, we’ve spent 14 years working with executive teams, boards, and transformation leaders to refine a simple but powerful framework we now call the Architecture of Leadership Space. It has five interlinked building blocks that shift how your teams meet, connect, and work together.

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1. Safety – The Precondition for Real Contribution

At the heart of all powerful spaces lies psychological safety—the absence of interpersonal fear. When people feel safe, they dare to be themselves. They show up with authenticity, play to their strengths, and are willing to be vulnerable.

As Harvard professor Amy Edmondson, a leading authority on high-performing teams, reminds us: psychological safety is often misunderstood. It’s not being nice. It’s not getting your way. It doesn’t weaken accountability or compete with performance. And while senior leaders play a critical role in setting the tone, safety cannot be mandated. It must be cultivated through personal and collective action—in day-to-day interactions and practices.

Be vulnerable first.

As a leader, you set the tone. If you share personal concerns or uncertainties—even those that feel unfinished or emotionally charged—you signal that it’s safe to be real. That’s more than asking good questions; it’s letting yourself be seen. Pair that with a learner’s mindset—curiosity, openness, and a willingness to ask for help—and you invite others to bring their full selves, too. The fastest way to build psychological safety? Stop talking about it. Start modeling it.

Name what stands in the way.

Psychological safety breaks down when discomfort is avoided or elephants in the room go unnamed—whether it’s a dominant voice, unresolved tension, or a pattern of false harmony. But niceness can be a trap. Safety isn’t agreement; it’s the freedom to disagree constructively. The courage to speak up and the humility to listen are two sides of the same coin. If something feels off, say it. If the debate is missing, ask why. And if you sense your own behavior may be closing the space—name it, or ask about it with candor.

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2. Place – The Setting Shapes the State

Place matters. When did we convince ourselves that seating 12 people behind laptops in a U-shape could host real conversation? That setup breeds disengagement. Instead of fresh insight, we get defensiveness, scripted slides, and tension.

Set the tone with where you meet.

A circle invites exchange. A walk & talk invites reflection. A flipchart in the middle invites shared focus. Avoid the formality of a boardroom when the moment calls for open dialogue. Choose a space that supports agility, connection, and collective thought—not passive consumption.

Vary the format to match the question.

Doing the same thing and expecting a different result? Insanity. Shift the format. Rotate facilitators. Change perspectives. Alternate plenary and breakout. Shift intentionally—from plenary to small groups, to paired reflections, back to synthesis. This keeps energy high and makes space for more voices—and better ideas.

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3. Time – From Scarcity to Spaciousness

Make time an enabler rather than treating it as a barrier. Time is always limited—but that doesn’t mean it must feel scarce. We encourage leaders to think more carefully about how they use time in relation to their challenges. A well-designed process doesn’t just lead to decisions—it leads to clarity, ownership, and energy. The measure of a great meeting is not only what was agreed, but how engaged the participants felt in creating that outcome.

Slow down to speed up (Chronos).

Transactional decision-making helps teams move fast on everyday issues. But complex or ambiguous challenges require something different. They need time for exploration—inviting different perspectives, imagining from others’ vantage points, or getting inspiration through art, movement, or nature. Many of our off-site workshops produce breakthrough results not because of the content—but because we give the group space for nonlinear thinking.

Give time for what’s needed (Kairos).

Certain moments in the year—strategy reviews, people reviews, planning cycles—are natural windows to step back. But what about the opportune moments in between? Sometimes the task is simple: make a clear decision. But other times, what’s needed is deeper reflection: a focused hour with a small group to untangle a conflict, or a creative session after fresh air to reframe a stuck problem. Good timing isn’t just about the calendar—it’s about sensing the moment.

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4. Rituals – Shift the State, Not Just the Structure

Rituals are not about formality—they are about intentionality. They signal that something matters. That we are shifting gears. They help people arrive—mentally, emotionally, and relationally.

Practice, repeat, sustain.

We recommend starting meetings with a check-in round. You can often assess the quality of a team by the depth and honesty of that first five minutes. High-performing teams give and receive feedback regularly—not occasionally. Sustainable behavioral change requires practice. Rituals help people remember and repeat what works. What starts as structure becomes culture.

Step out of the ordinary.

Our default state—especially in fast-paced organizations—is the multitasking, reactive “monkey mind.” But when we apply that same scattered state to every challenge, we reduce complex issues to surface-level fixes—and miss what’s really needed. Changing the space, rhythm, or tone isn’t about novelty—it’s about tuning the group into the right state of focus, creativity or empathy. 

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5. Impulses – Invite What Doesn’t Fit on a Slide

Sometimes, what’s needed isn’t more data. It’s a new impulse. Movement. Art. A different context. An unexpected question. These aren't distractions—they are sources of renewal.

Spark creative expression.

Don’t default to PowerPoint as the only way of expression. Some of the best thinking happens when we step away from the slide deck. Ask participants to sketch an aspiration. Use a song, a story, a role-play—these can surface hidden talents and generate novel solutions. The monkey mind can’t access intuition and imagination. Playfulness can.

Tap into the universal.

There’s wisdom all around us. In ancient traditions, religious texts, mythology, and philosophy. In nature. In silence. The Bhagavad Gita. Lao Tzu. Rumi. The mountain view or sun rise on a quiet morning. These aren’t esoteric digressions—they’re timeless sources of orientation. They help us return to what matters when the modern moment feels overwhelming.

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A Final Word: Use the Space You Hold

As a senior leader, your greatest privilege may not be your title. It’s your ability to shape the space around you. To choose how you show up. To shape how others experience working with you. To create a field where people connect more deeply and solve what truly matters.

The world is not short on complex questions. But too often, we face them in stale, narrow, half-alive spaces. So shift the chairs. Change the rhythm. Ask a better opening question. Dare to do something more human. More alive.

You don’t need a perfect script. Just the willingness to step in—and hold space differently.

— Ekki & Alper

on behalf of the SUM partners and community