[Paid Subscriber-Only Bonus] The 80/20 Flip, Part 2: From Depth Discipline to System Discipline

TL;DR: If your efforts to go deeper keep getting stuck, the issue might not be you. It might be the system.

“Until you change the system, nothing changes.”
— Vibhas Ratanjee, Forbes, June 2025

In a recent Forbes article, Ratanjee argues that leadership development is too often a mirage, promising individual growth while ignoring the organizational forces that sabotage it. His point is both true and troubling: we train people for new behaviors, but leave them in environments that reward the old ones.

That’s why this follow-up to the 80/20 Flip is about more than personal discernment.
It’s about the systemic friction that undermines depth—and what to do about it.

If Part 1 was about where and how you apply your energy as a leader, then Part 2 is about what happens when your energy keeps hitting walls.

Let’s go deeper (yep, pun still applies).