The new plan won't do what the last one didn't.
And the answer isn't another planning session or another strategic planning consultant with a new slide deck. I write weekly about what's actually standing in the way — subscribe if it's useful.
Chris Wiersma
There Are Two Kinds of Adults
The first kind is still relating to the world through permission structures.
Looking for validation. Avoiding criticism. Seeking agreement. Explaining their decisions and positions before anyone asks. Treating their complaints like coupons with real redemption value.
They're not immature. They're running a system that made perfect
You Don't Repeat What Worked. You Repeat What Survived.
There's a reason you lead the way you do. A reason you run the meetings you run, have the conversations you have, avoid the ones you avoid.
You think it's because of what worked.
It isn't.
It's because of what survived.
Alfred
Accountability Isn't Enforcement. It's Belief.
The most common reason leaders avoid accountability conversations: it feels unkind.
It isn't. The opposite is true.
Accountability says: I see you as a force. I take seriously that you meant it when you took your seat on this team. I believe you're capable of what
The B Player Problem Isn't Performance. It's Game Theory.
B players aren't underperformers. They're competitors.
Not competitors against your rivals. Competitors against your team.
Every organization runs on an agreed-upon game: here's the goal, here are the rules, here's what winning looks like. A players play that game. C players fail
The new plan won't do what the last one didn't.
Plans don't fail because they're bad plans.
They fail because the default motivational state underneath most organizations makes execution structurally impossible.
There are only two motivational states a team can be in.
The first is performance orientation. Teams regulate their effort based on progress signals — real