This is part 1 of a series focusing on organizational ‘operating systems.’
Many years ago, I worked at a large financial corporation that operated with a high level of effectiveness and analytical rigor. The CEO clearly and comprehensively shared the business strategy in biannual meetings, and it cascaded all the way down to individual contributors. This resulted in a relatively easy environment to work in (politically and organizationally).
In contrast, I’ve also worked in organizations that adopted a more fluid approach to strategy building and direction-setting. Execution was iterative and sometimes opportunistic, and communication was fairly fragmented or implicit. In other words, if you were not a part of key discussions, you would likely miss key operational details that could negatively impact you.
When markets or the industry at large are volatile, there is PE (private equity) ownership, and when the organization is under pressure to show short-term results, this managerial approach may be completely appropriate. Yet, it can be challenging for some to work within.
Metaphorically, a business can be thought of as an operating system. In my view, instead of looking at each business as simply an organization, a more effective approach is to understand the various operating system components and their failure modes, and begin optimizing system behavior across them.
For example, while a computer operating system stores state in a file system, an organization stores state in playbooks and knowledge systems. Weak “file systems” can result in fragmented operations and force organizations to relearn the same lessons repeatedly.
Another example involves memory management, or resource allocation in business terms. Memory that is not allocated correctly can result in memory leaks, and in a business context, these leaks can equate to long-running initiatives with no ROI, or poorly defined initiatives that consume resources but lack a clear end date or termination strategy. (ChatGPT, 2026)
If you view each business through this lens, you’ll be able to assess and design practices that enable your success regardless of the type of system (organization) you’re operating in. Your goal is to distinguish between interpersonal failings and those found at the system level so you can allocate your time and effort accordingly.
In future posts, I’ll explore key operating system components to further explain this concept.