Entry alone can become a cul-de-sac if it isolates the newcomer. Rosabeth Moss Kanter’s study Men and Women of the Corporation (1977) shows how tokens are hyper-visible yet under-heard. Thus the ethic of the folding chair carries a further duty: do not sit alone. Share mic time, redistribute agenda-setting, mentor successors, and institutionalize pathways so presence becomes policy. In this way, the chair you bring today becomes a bench for others tomorrow. The narrative then comes full circle: the point is not merely to fit into an inherited blueprint but to redraw the room’s geometry—who speaks, who decides, and who benefits. When we leave behind spare chairs, we convert Chisholm’s metaphor into muscle memory, turning moments of access into durable architecture for inclusion. [...]
