Most businesses don’t struggle because of their people.

They struggle because the structure was never designed properly.

In this episode, Chris explores why strong businesses are built by designing roles and responsibilities first, then placing the right people into those roles, not the other way around.

Drawing on real client conversations and lessons from Jim Collins’ Good to Great, Chris challenges the idea of “just getting good people” and explains why clarity of structure, roles, and execution is what actually allows people to thrive.

What makes a great leader? Yes, great leaders work hard. Yes, they use their strengths well. But the standout trait? They know how to detach from the result and stay curious about what created it.

Great leaders don’t get bogged down in whether an outcome was a success or a failure. Instead, they approach it like a science experiment. They analyse the system, test hypotheses, identify what works, lock it in, and keep evolving.

Chris references Russell Ackoff’s perspective that a system is not the sum of its parts, but the product of their interactions, and draws on Dr Jason Fox’s idea that there’s no such thing as failure – only a disproved hypothesis.

If you’re constantly reacting to outcomes instead of engineering them, this episode will shift how you think about leadership and drive continuous improvement.

Discover how one business grew from $2M to $20M by having someone challenge their thinking. Chris shares why success often comes from being pushed to think bigger – and asks: who’s doing that for you?