Decide How You'll Decide: Two Philadelphia Rooms and Your Team's AI Choices

In 1774 and 1787, the founders argued hard and still made lasting choices. First they built trust and then they agreed on how to decide. Most teams skip that part.

Two rooms sit a few blocks apart in Old City Philadelphia. In both, people who disagreed about almost everything still managed to decide. The First Continental Congress met in Carpenters' Hall, off Chestnut Street, in 1774. The Constitutional Convention met in 1787 in the old Pennsylvania State House, now Independence Hall.

Leadership teams face a problem a lot like the founders'. AI is piling hard choices on their desks. What should machines do? Who can use which tools? Who is on the hook when something goes wrong? Some teams talk for months. Others make a call and then quietly back away from it. The founders used a better process.

Trust first: Carpenters' Hall, 1774

The delegates met on September 5, 1774. They came from twelve colonies. Georgia sent no one. Many had never met, and trust was thin. Joseph Galloway, the careful Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, offered them the State House. They looked at Carpenters' Hall instead, the new home of a craftsmen's group. A big majority picked it. Where they met said a lot.

James Duane of New York wanted to start with a committee to write rules. Others said they didn't need one. They settled on only what they had to. Each colony got one vote. The doors stayed shut. Each man swore on his honor to keep it secret. The rest they left to good sense and good faith.

Then came a small pivotal moment. Someone moved to open with a prayer. Some objected that the men belonged to too many churches. Samuel Adams of Boston, a Congregationalist, said he was no bigot. He could hear a prayer from any good and godly man who loved his country. Then he named the Rev. Jacob Duché, an Anglican from Philadelphia. Adams was being smart as much as faithful. The boldest group in the room showed it would meet the others on their terms.

Within weeks, the Congress backed Massachusetts's Suffolk Resolves. It debated Galloway's plan of union and set it aside. On October 20, it agreed to the Continental Association, a shared boycott of British goods. They had only a few rules. But they had enough trust to get real work done.

Rules for arguing: Independence Hall, 1787

Thirteen years later, the problem was different. These men knew right where they disagreed. On May 28 and 29, before arguing about anything else, they agreed on how to argue. Pause and consider that — first thing they agreed on "how to argue"...

No one could speak more than twice on the same question without permission. No one got a second turn until everyone who hadn't spoken had a chance. Nothing said in the room could be printed without permission. A vote could be taken up again, but only with notice.

Secrecy let a man change his mind without looking foolish. The right to revisit a vote made it safe to vote before every doubt was gone. The speaking rule kept the loudest voices from taking over.

On July 16 came a big deal in the structuring of the new government. One house would seat members by population. In the other, each state got the same vote. It passed five states to four. Massachusetts was split.

On September 17, Benjamin Franklin was too frail to give his own speech, so James Wilson read it. "I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve," it began. Franklin asked every man with doubts to "doubt a little of his own infallibility" and sign. Most did. Three would not. One was Elbridge Gerry, who had voted for the July deal. People don't sign on by themselves. You have to ask, and each person has to choose.

What leadership teams can take from these rooms

First, before your next big choice, spend one meeting on how you'll decide. Who gets a vote? What stays in the room? What does it take to open a question back up? Skip this, and you'll fight about process while calling it something else.

Second, build trust before you need it. Duché's prayer worked because everyone saw a group give ground when it didn't have to. What would that look like on your team, and who should do it?

Third, keep the vote and the promise to back it apart, and ask for the promise out loud. Franklin named his own doubts and asked folks to sign anyway. Most choices can be revisited. So make the call now. Pick a date to look at it again. Until then, expect everyone to stand behind it.

Forge brings senior leadership teams into these same rooms in Old City to work on their own hardest choices. The history helps them see themselves.

For HR leaders, we wrote a one-page brief called What CHROs Are Prioritizing This Fall. It sums up five findings from HR and research groups, including SHRM, Gartner and The Conference Board, each with a question for your team.

Here's one: only 2% of CHROs who fund leader growth put any of it toward AI skills for their leaders. Download it here: What CHROs Are Prioritizing This Fall (PDF)

Follow Forge Leadership Experiences on LinkedIn for a new lesson from these rooms every week: linkedin.com/company/106244599