101
articles showing how surface-level problems point to deeper failures in strategy, systems, incentives, leadership, or trust.
0126 examples
The promise and reality diverge
- Looks like
- Messaging, reputation, or trust problem
- Often is
- The organization cannot support the claim
- Do this
- Align the promise, decisions, and delivery
I Wanted a Fishing Licence. New York Gave Me a Deer. ↗How Playa Bowls’ Founder Engineered Bev Shack into a $5 Social-First Empire ↗Is This Really the Best Starbucks’ CEO Can Do? ↗
See related evidence →0228 examples
The system rewards the wrong behavior
- Looks like
- Performance or accountability problem
- Often is
- Metrics and incentives produce the behavior
- Do this
- Change ownership, measures, and decisions
TopDog Law: Big Bark. Show Me the Bite. ↗A Tale of Two Gas Stations: Ownership, Empathy, and the Hidden Cost of “Not My Job” ↗The ROI of Obsession ↗
See related evidence →0310 examples
The experience exposes the business
- Looks like
- Service, attention, or retention problem
- Often is
- The operating model ignores the person
- Do this
- Redesign around the real customer situation
Alaska Violet and the Digital Life I Had Never Asked My Daughter About ↗Optimum Customer Service Cut Off My Phone, Left Me Stranded Without Service, Then Told Me to Use My Phone to Fix It ↗The Business Model That Produces Sh*tty Products and Huge Profits ↗
See related evidence →0437 examples
The tool cannot repair the strategy
- Looks like
- Data, AI, content, or growth problem
- Often is
- Technology is accelerating a weak choice
- Do this
- Fix the judgment before scaling the action
Marketing Has Bad Breath, Not Halitosis ↗I Heard It Through the Fakevine ↗Howard Stern, Data Brokers, and the Danger of Mistaking a Profile for a Person ↗
See related evidence →The positive archive
Criticism identifies the failure. These examples show what deserves to be repeated.
01
Ownership
Act beyond the boundary of the task.
02
Curiosity
Slow down long enough to ask what is actually true.
03
Candor
Say what the system makes easier to avoid.
04
Care
Design around the person living with the outcome.