Water always finds its way. So do incentives.

Most organisations draft policies then wonder why nobody follows them. Create systems nobody uses. Launch products nobody wants.

The Mismatch

Companies try to control behaviour with policies and procedures. Pointless.

They're fighting human nature instead of designing for it. Building dams instead of channels.

Smart companies don't fight the current. They redirect it.

The Invisible Force

Smart leaders don't focus on what people say. They focus on what gets rewarded, what gets punished, what gets celebrated.

Boeing built planes that crashed because their incentives prioritised speed over safety. Wells Fargo created fake accounts because their incentives rewarded account creation over customer service.

You believe behaviour is random. The reality is it follows the rewards.

Psycho-Logic

Value is never objective. The coffee tastes better in expensive mugs. The medicine works better with colourful pills.

Not manipulation. Reality.

We call this psycho-logic. The actual logic of how people operate, not how economists wish they operated.

The Tribal Force

The greatest incentive structures tap our primal need for belonging. They create tribes, not customers.

Apple users. Harley riders. CrossFit devotees.

Weak companies sell products. Strong companies sell belonging.

What Changes

Align incentives properly and behaviour shifts overnight.

Sales teams stop gaming metrics and start closing real deals. Support teams stop deflecting tickets and start solving problems. Marketing stops chasing vanity metrics and starts driving revenue.

Turnover drops. Performance climbs. The things you wanted all along happen without you pushing.

Not through control. Through alignment.