The person who notices who’s sitting alone runs the room more than the one talking loudest.

Volume gets attention and noticing gets influence. The person tracking who has not spoken, who arrived late, who is standing at the edge, holds the actual shape of the room in their head, and that is where the power to change it sits. Nobody hands out credit for it, which is why loud so often gets mistaken for in charge.

Take one room this week and run it quietly. Find the person on their own and go and stand next to them with a simple question. Bring somebody into a conversation who had not managed to get in. None of this requires being popular.