Policy as Proxy Leadership Rules Don’t Lead People. Leaders Do. Issue 257, March 26, 2026 A vice president of operations I worked with at a client recently described a moment that stayed with me. She had been trying to approve a temporary staffing adjustment for one of her regional offices related to a short-term initiative that would increase the load on the customer service team. A decision well within her scope of responsibility. It should have taken a phone call…

Structural Silence Why Organizations Train People Not to Speak Issue 256, March 19, 2026 A compliance director at a mid-size healthcare company told us recently that she had known about a data vulnerability for nearly four months before anyone formally raised it. She was not the only one who knew. At least three other department leads had flagged it informally in one-on-one conversations. None of them brought it up in the cross-functional meetings where it should have been discussed. When…

The Myth of Cross-Functional Collaboration Why Cross-Functional Structures Rarely Deliver the Collaboration They Promise Issue 255, March 12, 2026 There is a particular optimism that appears in organizations whenever someone proposes the creation of a cross-functional team. The assumption is almost immediate: if we can just bring the right functions together, many of the problems slowing progress will begin to disappear. Silos will break down. Collaboration will improve. Alignment will follow. It is an appealing idea. It is also one…

Decision Theater – When People and Organizations Mistake Motion for Commitment Issue 254, March 5, 2026 A COO at an association client recently described her week to me. She had spent Monday in a governance review, Tuesday in an alignment session, Wednesday in two separate stakeholder syncs, and Thursday preparing a decision brief for a steering committee that would meet the following Monday. By Friday, she realized something unsettling: not a single decision had actually been made all week. Every…

The Algorithmic Mirror What AI Reveals About How We Actually Think and Decide Issue 253, February 26, 2026 “What makes AI unsettling isn’t that it changes how decisions are made, but that it exposes how decisions have always been made—only without the human buffers we rely on to soften the truth.” The Mirror No One Was Asking For AI is often framed as a disruptive force—something that replaces human judgment, automates expertise, or accelerates decisions beyond our control. But that…

  The Meeting after the Meeting – Why Your Strategies and Plans Keep Losing Support Issue 252, February 19, 2026 You were in a meeting where you presented a project roadmap seeking to develop new revenue for your department. The meeting ended with apparent consensus, and the project roadmap got the green light. Heads nodded; verbal agreement and support came from most who were in attendance. Action items were assigned. Everyone left the conference room. And then, you learned later…