In his new book, What Is Your Folding Chair?, pastor, cybersecurity executive, board director, and speaker Tosin Ogunsanwo addresses a question familiar to many: What happens when you have been called to make an impact but no one has offered you a seat at the table? His answer is both practical and spiritual: prepare to bring your own.
Blending Christian spiritual formation with practical leadership principles, What Is Your Folding Chair? explores the often-unseen seasons that precede meaningful influence. Through personal stories, biblical narratives, leadership insights, and interviews, Ogunsanwo challenges readers to recognize that preparation does not begin when opportunity arrives. It begins long before anyone is watching.
At the heart of the book is the metaphor of the folding chair, representing the gifts a person develops, the values they refuse to compromise, the relationships they cultivate, the resilience they acquire, and the expertise they build while waiting for the opportunity to step into a larger sphere of influence.
"This book helps readers identify their 'folding chair,'" Ogunsanwo explains, describing it as "the preparation, resilience, skills, sacrifices, or acts of courage that signal readiness and open doors that once seemed off-limits."
The idea for the book began unexpectedly in 2022 when Ogunsanwo encountered Shirley Chisholm's famous statement about bringing a folding chair when a seat at the table is not offered. The phrase immediately resonated with him spiritually, ultimately inspiring a sermon titled "What Is Your Folding Chair?" After delivering the message at his church, Ogunsanwo felt called to transform its framework into a book. The project remained dormant until 2025, when he felt a renewed conviction that it was finally time to write it.
For Ogunsanwo, that period of waiting reflects one of the book's central ideas: obscurity is not necessarily inactivity. Seasons in which doors remain closed can become the very places where character, capability, and conviction are developed.
"God uses adversity, obscurity, and obedience to shape leaders before He positions them for influence," Ogunsanwo says.
That message is particularly relevant to those who have felt overlooked, underestimated, rejected, or excluded by traditional systems. Rather than defining leadership by position or recognition, What Is Your Folding Chair? asks readers to consider what they are developing now that will prepare them to serve effectively when their opportunity arrives.
The book also occupies an intentional space between traditional leadership literature and Christian personal growth. Ogunsanwo observes that leadership books frequently concentrate on external strategies, while faith-based books may emphasize spiritual encouragement. What Is Your Folding Chair? brings those worlds together through personal experience, biblical narratives, interviews, storytelling, and practical principles readers can immediately apply.
Ogunsanwo brings a distinctive professional perspective to that intersection. For more than 15 years, he has led cybersecurity initiatives protecting critical infrastructure while simultaneously mentoring and developing emerging leaders through ministry, education, and community engagement. He holds a master's degree in Engineering Management and the Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) credential.
His professional experience in highly technical, high-stakes environments complements his work as a pastor, board director, and speaker, allowing him to approach leadership as both a practical discipline and a spiritual responsibility.
Ultimately, What Is Your Folding Chair? is not simply about getting invited into more important rooms. It is about becoming the kind of person who is prepared to contribute meaningfully once there.
Ogunsanwo describes his own writing journey in three words: "Divine, Timely and Transformative."
For readers still waiting for their opportunity, his message is clear: the absence of recognition does not mean the absence of purpose. The question is not merely whether a seat will eventually become available. The deeper question is: What are you building, developing, and carrying with you when it does?
The book is published by Lucid Books, an independent, hybrid publisher in the Houston area. As a partnership publisher, Lucid Books offers the connections and expertise of a traditional publisher with the author involvement of a self-publisher, aiming to help authors inspire, inform, and enrich the lives of their readers.
For professionals and faith communities alike, Ogunsanwo's work arrives at a time when many are reevaluating what leadership means and how to prepare for it. By framing preparation as an active, purposeful season rather than a passive wait, What Is Your Folding Chair? offers a framework that could influence how individuals approach career development, mentorship, and spiritual growth. It underscores that the skills, values, and resilience built in obscurity are not wasted but are the very things that equip people to lead when the door finally opens.
