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Key Takeaways Companies often pay twice for the same expensive lesson because the reasoning and logic behind decisions isn’t captured.
Lost learning occurs when leaders move roles, get promoted or leave the company and the reasoning behind key decisions doesn’t transfer to the next leader.
Before closing a program or transitioning ownership, leaders should identify pivotal decisions, explain which options were rejected and why and clarify the conditions under which they would make a different call next time.
I watched a Fortune 500 business unit spend 18 months stabilizing a complex supplier transition.
The first time around, the move created disruption, cost overruns and internal escalation all the way to the executive committee. After painful resets, the team finally found the balance point, including the right governance cadence, the right escalation triggers and the right level of local autonomy.
Two years later, a new regional leader inherited a similar transition.
It was a different geography but the same supplier type, regulatory exposure and internal stakeholders.
Within six months, the organization repeated the same mistakes, including overcommitment in the first 90 days, delayed escalation and optimism bias in reporting. By the time senior leadership intervened, margin had eroded, and credibility had taken a hit.
When I asked what happened, the answer was simple:
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