Dear Leaders,

Here’s a simple rule: If you’re the CEO and you’re talking more than 60 percent of the time in a meeting, you’re talking too much.

I once worked with a founder who opened every meeting with a five-minute monologue. Then he’d ask for feedback. It wasn’t feedback he got. It was applause.

When the most senior person speaks first, they collapse the room. Everyone else starts calibrating their views instead of contributing them. We don’t get insight. We get echo.

When I asked him to speak last instead of first, everything changed. His team brought sharper ideas. Harder questions. Actual debate.

Why? Because he stopped setting the temperature. He let the room reveal it.

This isn’t being passive. It’s being deliberate. Listening well is a crucial leadership skill. And speaking last is a power move.

Silence isn’t a lack of leadership. It’s a sign of maturity. We’re not there to impress the room. We’re there to learn what it knows.

And if we’re always the first to speak, we’ve trained the room to stop thinking for itself.

That’s why there’s a note taped to my desk:
Listen well. Speak last.

Onward,

Hamza