If you are walking in a garden, and you can see, you will note the interconnections between land, air, water, and seed. It is an ecosystem. In your garden, if you pay attention, you have circles of influencers in your life all around you potentially interconnecting with each other in powerful ways. You are giver and receiver in this garden. Your mindset is to flourish. Not to fear, not to go it alone, but to connect in. And you will see that these circles of influence are interconnected and interlocking. They are the compound interest of a relational investor. This is a Great Conversation with Dr. Daniel Hallak, author of The Trust Circle and Ron Worman, The Sage Group.

Across every civilization, from the Nile to Wall Street, humans have built pyramids. Some were carved from stone, others from policy, process, and PowerPoint. But the shape persists.

Why?

Perhaps it is because the pyramid is more than a structure—it’s a belief system. It’s how we make sense of scale. It’s how we create order out of chaos, meaning out of complexity, and continuity out of uncertainty.

And yet, for most people, life is lived not at the apex, but somewhere in the middle layers—where the weight is felt most intensely, and where the opportunity for real leadership is often overlooked.

In this great conversation we’re going to explore that middle space. The place where most of the world’s work gets done. The place where influence is earned, not granted.

And to guide us, we have someone who has lived inside pyramids both ancient and modern—organizationally speaking—and has written a remarkable book about how to navigate them with purpose, clarity, and courage.

Christopher Stitt is the author of Scaling Pyramids, a #1 bestseller in Public Affairs, and the CEO of Crisis Lead leveraging over 25 years in global security, crisis management, and law enforcement. He’s spent his career helping people at the lower and mid‑levels of their organizational pyramids find their voice, their agency, and their path upward—or outward—with integrity.

“People don’t need a spreadsheet of reasons to trust you. They don’t want another pitch deck. Another promise. Another polished lie. They are waiting for a signal. And what is the most powerful signal:

"I see you. I hear you. You matter."

Jack Barsky, a former KGB spy, did not learn this in Harvard Business School. He learned it from his tradecraft as a spy.

In the Great Conversation, we navigate intention, truth, and trust between the two worlds. And we end with a question about legacy that many of us can learn from.