“I don’t get it,” Elizabeth shook her head. “We hire MBAs, engineers, and industry veterans. Individually they were all great hires. Yet our projects still miss deadlines.”

“And what have you concluded?” I asked.

“That we need better people,” she said with a downbeat.

“Maybe. But tell me, who designed the roles they occupy?”

Elizabeth looked straight at me in an unspoken question.

“The smartest person in the world struggles in a role where the accountability is not clear,” I replied. “And a capable team member fails when they are given work beyond their current capability.”

“So the problem might not be the people?” Elizabeth showed a bit of doubt on her face.

“Most often, it’s the structure,” I nodded.

Elizabeth leaned back. “We’ve been replacing players when we should have focused on clarity.”

“And, clear to you may not be clear to the team member.”

Premeditated Culture is now available from Amazon.