A seat at the table never made anyone strategic. Connecting what the table still sees separately does.
The question it changes
From “how does this function get a strategic seat?” to “which decisions is this function connecting that the rest of the organization still handles as if they were separate?”
The assumption it dislodges
That strategic status comes from title, chair, or proximity to the CEO. Strategic emerges where someone holds the whole picture no one else sees at once. Titles follow. They do not create.
Where it was observed
The Fall IDN Summit floor in Phoenix, September 2026, in rooms of supply chain and pharmacy leaders asking how they get taken seriously as strategic.
