How to Always Get Invited to Key Strategic Conversations
Getting Invited to Big Conversations — A Strategic Guide
By Mark Allen, Head of Engineering at Isometric
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Today’s message is about maximizing your organizational and global impact by joining big conversations — those strategic discussions where decisions are made and meaningful work is assigned. This guide combines practical tips and real-world stories (including saving my company €1 billion in three months) to show you how.
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What Are "Big Conversations"?
Strategic discussions occur daily at all levels — sometimes in formal meetings, sometimes in casual exchanges. They include topics such as:
- Financial — budgets, fundraising, investments
- Operational — processes, efficiency, logistics
- Technical — architecture choices, technology roadmaps
- Personnel-related — roles, responsibilities, team composition
Key point: Big conversations are not just for senior execs — anyone can join and add strategic value.
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Where Big Conversations Happen
They don’t always look like a boardroom meeting. They might be:
- Desk-side chats in the office
- Slack huddles or private channels
- Pull request discussions
- Draft RFC reviews
Your goal: Be in more of them, and be part of the better ones.
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Why It Matters
- If you’re in the conversation, you can take lead or shape the project.
- If you’re absent, someone else will.
- Presence leads to visibility, trust, and strategic assignments.
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Consequences of Absence
If you’ve ever heard in a performance review:
> “You’re doing great in your role, but we’re not seeing enough strategic impact.”
...you know the sting. It’s not always about skill — often it’s about being in the right discussions.
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Career Snapshot — Why I’m Credible on This Topic
- Technical Foundations: Started as a data engineer/data scientist
- Global Experience: Lived in 8+ countries; unusual roles (tour guide COO, festival pasta entrepreneur)
- Conservation Work: Co-led Andean bear protection project
- Tech Leadership: Skyscanner (car hire division), Glovo (100 engineers across 2 tribes), Ourspace (startup founder), Isometric (climate tech platform)
- Versatility: Spanning engineering, product, operations, and science collaboration
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Core Principle — Start Small
Breaking into big conversations is a virtuous circle:
- You need to be in discussions to gain expertise
- You need expertise to be invited
- Solution: Start with small engagements, build gradually
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Non-Negotiable — Keep Doing Your Day Job
Strategic growth doesn't mean abandoning your core responsibilities:
- Keep delivering operational excellence
- Make space selectively for strategic opportunities
- Balance between predictable high-output ("red button") work and high-risk/high-reward ("green button") projects
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Five Strategies to Get Invited into Big Conversations
1. Identify What Matters
- Know the priorities of leadership at multiple levels
- Learn where and how those issues are discussed
- Attend and engage in forums (all-hands, department meetings, open Slack channels)
2. Be a Beginner Again
- Immerse yourself in new domains
- Example: Delivering food as a Glovo courier to understand product and user needs
- Curiosity leads to relevant insights and credibility
3. Build Strong Relationships
- Value flows both ways — offer help and expertise
- Connect across departments and functions
- Position yourself closer to the top of the decision funnel
4. Craft Your Internal Brand
- Define 3 words/themes colleagues associate with you
- Ensure consistency across manager, peers, and reports
- Aim for a brand that signals readiness for higher responsibilities
5. Choose the Green Button (Sometimes)
- Be strategic when saying yes to unconventional opportunities
- Evaluate initiatives vs BAU work, growth vs existing strength, precedent, relationship value, and effort scale
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Decision Rubric for Opportunities
Ask:
- Is it an initiative or BAU?
- Will it grow my skills or use existing strengths?
- Will it build new relationships or deepen old ones?
- What precedent will it set?
- Is the effort reasonable given my capacity?
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Real-World Examples
- Courier Strike Fix (Glovo): Small app change resolved a strike — no career change resulted.
- €1B Fine Reduction: Led multi-team rebuild of courier app to meet government requirements in 3 months; fine dropped to €79M; resulted in promotion.
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Execution in Meetings
When you are in strategic conversations:
- Plan one value-add contribution before joining
- Offer to own a small action and deliver above expectations
- This builds trust and repeat invitations
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Summary
If you want to be part of strategic conversations:
- Identify what matters
- Be a beginner again
- Build strong relationships
- Craft your internal brand
- Choose the green button sometimes
It’s a long-term virtuous circle — start small, build weekly.
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Q&A Insights
On Building Relationships Beyond Customer Paths:
- Respond faster to unexpected contacts
- Deliver better than expected in early collaborations
- Join non-work communities (e.g., neurodiversity club, book club)
On What Comes Next:
- Avoid dominating; aim for specific contributions
- Take and deliver on at least one follow-up action
On Surpassing Senior Peers:
- Partner with those already in the room; offer support to lighten their load
On Helping Teammates:
- Diagnose blockers (awareness, invites, interest)
- Create opportunities, offer guidance, debrief, and reinforce learning
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Closing Thought
Strategic impact isn’t just about skill — it’s about consistent visibility, relationship equity, and readiness for opportunity.
Start small, be deliberate, and every week take steps that move you further into the conversations that shape your organization.
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Would you like me to also create this as a visually structured checklist and decision matrix so it can be used as a reference in leadership coaching or mentoring sessions? That would make the strategies instantly actionable.
