Many years ago, I watched a department head spend almost an hour in a management meeting arguing about desk arrangements. The point of conflict was not for strategic planning, not for productivity optimisation, but for who sits where. The entire leadership team sat there, trapped in this tedious theatre while critical decisions waited. This is what pettiness does. It shrinks the leader’s world until a seat arrangement becomes more important than the market share. Here’s the absolute truth: petty leaders make petty organisations, and that leads to divisions and conflicts over petty issues. It’s not only annoying but also destructive.