The Alignment-Industrial Complex

How Fragmented Authority Destroys a Company's Ability to Compete

Every week, 250 customers call this insurer to correct their mileage. Letting them do it online would save customers time and the insurer money. Customers want it. Shareholders have been promised digital transformation. Management calls it a priority. Two years later, the calls are still coming. At the fictional insurer in this book, every department can meet its targets while the company fails to deliver. Agreement changes none of the permissions required to finish. Keeping the departments aligned becomes a business of its own, with budgets and careers to protect. While the company negotiates permission, a competitor can improve its service and learn from the result. Giving someone the authority to finish means taking power from people the company is already rewarding. Those people help decide what changes. The agreed improvement is better alignment. The customer is still waiting. Two years of bonuses have been paid in full.