Drag the Table: Leading When the Setup Is Wrong

I rewatched Men in Black (MIB) recently, and there’s a scene I love. Will Smith sits in a futuristic egg-shaped chair, trying to take a written test with nowhere to write. Everyone else awkwardly pretends it’s fine. He looks around, stands up, and drags a heavy coffee table across the room… very loudly… so he has a place to work.

As a kid, that scene annoyed me. I was the rule follower. The idea of doing something noisy, visible, and “out of line” made no sense. But as I’ve gotten older, the scene has become a small piece of wisdom I come back to often.

Most people will quietly endure something that obviously isn’t working. They don’t want to stand out. They don’t want to bother anyone. They don’t want to be the one who makes it awkward.

So they sit in the uncomfortable chair. They struggle through the process. They pretend the environment or the setup isn’t part of the problem.

And that pattern shows up everywhere, not just in movies, but in how people work, communicate, and lead.

This is where the leadership lesson starts.

In organizations, teams often operate with “egg-chair moments” that everyone sees but no one questions.

Processes that no longer fit the pace of the work. Meetings that drain more energy than they create. Communication habits that depend too much on one person. Expectations no one remembers setting. Systems everyone complains about privately but accept publicly. Plans that don’t align with reality. 

When leaders don’t challenge these things, the team stops challenging them too. People follow the environment they’re given, not the one everyone wishes existed.

Leaders who are willing to “drag the table” model something deeper: the courage to question what’s obviously not working, even if it briefly feels uncomfortable. 

That willingness changes how teams operate. It creates permission for people to challenge assumptions, ask better questions, and rethink old habits. It breaks the pattern of defaulting to what’s familiar simply because it’s familiar.

And there’s a personal-growth layer here too.

Most of us have a story about holding back in moments when we should have spoken up, adjusted the setup, or asked for what we needed.

Sometimes we avoid the obvious fix because we don’t want to look difficult. Sometimes we play small because we’re afraid of misreading the room. Sometimes we tolerate environments that don’t actually support our best work.

Dragging the table, metaphorically or literally, is choosing clarity over comfort. It’s choosing effectiveness over fitting in. It’s honoring what you need to do your best work instead of hoping someone else will notice. And the more you practice that personally, the more naturally it shows up in how you lead.

The takeaway is simple:

Strong leaders don’t just adapt to their environment. They shape it.

They’re willing to ask, “Why are we doing it this way?” They’re willing to break the quiet agreement that says, “Just deal with it.” They’re willing to create conditions that help everyone think, decide, and contribute at their best.

Sometimes the most powerful leadership move isn’t a strategy or a plan. It’s the willingness to stand up in the middle of the room and drag the table when no one else will.