At an org I worked at, we (the whole org) were notorious (internally) for just not being able to execute big projects. In late 2022 2 of the top-level big prior

At an org I worked at, we (the whole org) were notorious (internally) for just not being able to execute big projects. In late 2022 2 of the top-level big priority initiatives got "pivoted" (eyeroll) because they just weren't "going". And allegedly a big part of the problem was that nobody wanted to admit that things weren't going just swell on these big projects, so they gussied up their status reports, and then when this was done systemically across every person in the entire project, you got a project that looked real good until it mysteriously missed deadlines, and after enough of that, finally the curtain pulls back. Now, management and leadership were most affronted by the state of affairs, I assure you, and many words were spent extolling virtues and lambasting vices and sin. But let me assure you, it's not that they love eloquent speech, they were simply not allowed to say the real reason for any of it because the real reason was a trait of the org that the founder thought was a key to their success. They run a meritocracy, you see, and a pay for performance comp philosophy. They run performance reviews very tight, and getting a passing mark is publicly said to be something to be proud of. The natural result being that everyone lives in constant fear, and being put on a big risky project is a great way to not get to vest your whole equity grant. So everyone plays defensively, the smartest people dodge the hard/big projects, and so on and so on. And they'll never fix it because they are not allowed to. How tragic.