Have you ever sat through a company town hall and felt like you were watching a well-rehearsed play rather than a business update?
The Good Cop steps up, the energy is sky high, metaphors fall like confetti: Formula 1, rocket ships, whatever works. There is talk of 'swagger', growth mindset and the classic "we're turning the corner" speech (for the third year in a row though).
Well... when the numbers look grim, the pep talks get louder. Optimism becomes the strategy. Total Addressable Market? Suddenly ZILLIONS. Growth? Double digits, EASY. Accountability? Oh, that is on “Interference”: systems, processes... maybe even YOU.
And when the buzzwords start flying (AI, hyper-automation, digital transformation) you know you are deep in the script. Because sometimes, it is not about the facts; it is about selling belief, even when reality is in the red.
And suddenly you meet the Bad Cop, who comes in with a sledgehammer of brutal reality about bleeding market share, free-falling page volumes and a few other things I cannot recount here.
So if the Good Cop was the hype man, the Bad Cop was the one who (intentionally or not, heaven knows) made sure everyone knew that you can't polish failure and call it strategy.
No amount of "swagger" is going to reverse a 57% stock decline in 1 year — because eventually, the market stops buying hype and starts billing for incompetence.
You can’t talk your way out of a mess you executed your way into.