09/18/2026
Mid-exercise, the owner stopped and said, "I didn't know that person was doing that well. I didn't know they were having that type of impact."
We were in a session on people and culture, and his leadership team was working through an exercise talking about their teams. This company had scaled, with people spread across several states, and like every business that grows past a certain point, not every leader interacts with every person anymore.
Barring something unusual, that conversation never happens without that room and that day. And it changed how the owner saw where his team actually was.
Here's the thing I keep seeing: past a certain size, an owner's picture of their own people is secondhand. And secondhand pictures go out of date in both directions. Sometimes people are struggling more than you know. Sometimes they're carrying more than you ever hear about.
The fix isn't more reports. It's building the room where leaders finally talk about their people out loud.
Who on your team might be having an impact you don't know about? Go find out, then come back and tell us the role.
