Hold on

Hold on. What are we even talking about here?

In two decades of my career, this question or some version of it has been my role in most rooms.

I’ve worked on everything from designing gelato stores, schools, colleges, and restaurants from scratch to creating corporate architectures for complex logistics companies and building strategies for sports teams.

I’ve sat side by side with the senior-most partners in consulting environments, solving complex, refuse-to-lose bids and winning over $2 billion in strategic deals.

I’ve worked with solo founders, entrepreneurs, and organizations at every scale.

And yet, I keep finding myself asking:

“Are we actually solving the right problem here?”

“What’s the real point we’re trying to make?”

“Does this even make sense to anyone?”

Far too often, I walk into conversations where post-it notes from “design-thinking” workshops, frameworks, charts, and checklists dominate the walls.

They look impressive: systematic and logical, even.

But the outputs?

They’re stored in digital Narnia and will never be implemented.

Why?

Because they’re just a façade.

A way to say, “Look, we followed the process; don’t fire me.”

It’s what Chris Argyris calls single-loop learning: going through the motions without addressing the core problem.

The reality is.