The Power of Being an Outsider

Sometimes the most unexpected person in the room is exactly the right one.

I had the privilege of hearing Emmy and Academy Award-winning documentarian Eva Orner speak live at the 2026 annual MOCSA luncheon in Kansas City, Missouri. MOCSA, whose mission is to improve the lives of those impacted by sexual abuse and assault and to prevent sexual violence, brought Orner to town in connection with her HBO film Surviving Ohio State, released in June 2025. When she was first approached to direct the project, she nearly said no. As an Australian who had lived in America for more than two decades, she simply did not know anything about college sports. She wasn’t sure she even knew what OSU was, let alone what “Buckeyes” were. By most conventional measures, she was the wrong person for the job.

And yet, that outsider status turned out to be her greatest asset.

After speaking with just three of the film’s subjects in preliminary phone conversations, Orner was struck by the fact that each of them shared things with her they had never told anyone before. She found herself wondering why. Was it because she was a woman? Was it her Australian accent? Or was it simply that she was an outsider?

That question has stayed with me. There is something about being unattached to a place, a culture, or an institution that can make people feel genuinely safe. When someone carries no tribal loyalty to a community, no preconceived notions about how things are “supposed to be,” people sense it. And in that space, honesty has room to breathe.

I know this dynamic well from my own work. In my consulting practice, I am often hired specifically because I am an outsider. Clients bring me in to gather candid input from stakeholders, to ask questions that insiders may not feel comfortable asking, and to maintain a kind of informed naivete that helps surface points of friction hiding in plain sight. People tell me things they would never say to a colleague or a supervisor, not because I have any special gift, but because I have no skin in the game. I am safe precisely because I am not one of them.

This idea translates far beyond documentary filmmaking or organizational consulting. Think about the conversations you have had with someone you just met on an airplane, or the candid advice you sought from a colleague in a completely different industry. There is a reason those exchanges can feel so freeing. The outsider has no stake in your narrative. They are not protecting anyone’s reputation, not bound by the same unspoken agreements that insiders carry.

In networking, we often seek out people who already “get it,” who share our worldview and our vocabulary. But Orner’s experience is a reminder that some of the most valuable connections happen precisely when that shared context is absent. The person who knows nothing about your field, your organization, or your community might be the one who asks the question nobody else thought to ask, or the one to whom you finally say the thing you’ve been holding back.

Being an outsider is not a liability. Wielded with genuine curiosity and care, it can be a superpower.

Happy Networking!