The Invisible, Named Contact

You've reorganized twice. And the same problems persist.

Everyone calls it a culture problem.

It's not.

You're about to decide. Not sure if the problem is the person — or the structure.

Everyone's protecting something — position, authority, their place in the system. Until you see what, and why the structure can't move, you're guessing.

You just took over. You inherited a team you didn't build. Something's off. You don't know if it's the people or the structure — and moving wrong costs you.

Your organization has the right talent. It's not moving. You've tried coaching, offsites, reorgs. The drag persists.

You're about to fire someone. You're 70% sure. But if it's structural, you'll make the same hire and have the same problem in 18 months.

These are the moments I'm useful.

Who people look at before they speak. Whose ideas get picked up and whose get dropped. Where the silences are. The half-second glance that signals whose opinion actually counts. The moment someone starts to push back — and stops.

There's a pattern you can feel but can't name. What everyone's protecting. Where the conceptions clash. What collision is coming.

I name it — and make a prediction you can test.

I don't do retained advisory. I do structural reads. Some clients call me once. Some call me quarterly. Each engagement is bounded — you get a read, a debrief, and I exit. When the structure shifts and you need fresh eyes, call again.

Proof

Three weeks later, she calmed.

The glance stopped. Voices returned.

He named the domains. The Deputy started deciding.

The gap surfaced. The PD landed differently.

The conception shifted. He's building for his absence now.

Eight predictions →

If you've seen enough. Start a conversation →

Eight people in a room. Something is wrong. See What I Saw

You already sense something's wrong. I'll tell you what everyone's protecting, why the system can't move, and what happens if you don't.

Calvin F. Johnson

Origin

My father negotiated theater leases for 25 years. He wasn't charming — he couldn't move a room with personality. So he learned to read it instead. Who held power. Who was bluffing. Where leverage sat. He taught me what he knew.

My sister received the same training. She reads children and families as a psychiatrist.

Me — I read organizations.

The basketball bench. My daughter's gymnastics. Couples at dinner — I see the structure in how they order. The patterns are just there.

Three decades of pattern recognition.

I'll tell you what I see.

Start a conversation