Clarity Under Pressure
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Learning occurs when expectations fail.

Chris ArgyrisOn Organizational Learning, 1978

In a handoff where context is thin and the clock is loud, everyone wants to keep options open. Options are expensive when they prevent commitment.

The failure mode is not choosing wrong; it is choosing accidentally. You see it in lessons that feel satisfying and fail again the next quarter, where the system commits itself while leaders stay “open.” A clean stop line prevents optimism from keeping a failing bet alive long after the evidence turns. Be honest about what would change your mind, because without a revisit signal every decision becomes permanent by default.

Write the hidden assumption as a sentence, then choose the signal that would break it. That is how you stay decisive without pretending to be certain. End with one move, not three.

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