Staging

Optics over substance. Action is performed rather than taken, and decisions bend around the fear of exposure.

What it looks like

The announcement comes before the work. The dashboard is green while the people doing the work are drowning. Decisions get made for how they will read in the meeting, the memo, the press. You can describe the plan beautifully and cannot say what happened last Tuesday.

The flattering misread

Polish. Political skill. Managing up. “You have to control the narrative.”

The tell

The story about the work is in better shape than the work.

What it protects

The fear of being seen to fail. Staging keeps the failure from being visible, which also keeps it from being fixed.

Where it shows up

Visibility, above all. Slow build, when results are slow and you need to show something. Repair, when you declare recovery before it has happened.

The move back

Report the thing that is not working before anyone asks. Separate deciding from announcing. Ask what you would do if nobody could see it, and then do a version of that you could explain plainly.

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