Field Notes
If replacing people never changes the outcome, what survived the replacement?
July 2026
New manager.
Same conflict.
New executive.
Same politics.
New hire.
Same failure pattern.
At some point, the person stops being the most useful place to look.
Not because people do not matter.
Because the pattern has survived too many substitutions.
That is when I start asking what each new person inherited.
Decision rights.
Incentives.
Unclear authority.
Old loyalties.
A role shaped around a person who is no longer there.
A conflict everyone learned to route around instead of resolve.
The organization keeps acting surprised by the repeat.
But the new person may have stepped into a script that was already written.
Replacing someone can change energy.
It does not automatically change the arrangement.
If the outcome keeps returning, something stayed intact.
If your business keeps returning to the same pattern, start with the intake.