Story six.
Different company. Different stakes.
Same underlying truth: interaction decides what happens next.Once we discovered a massive bug in one of our software platforms.
A big one.
This bug would cost a client hundreds of thousands of euros.
The standard playbook?
Find the mistake.
Find the person.
Find the head to roll.
I walked into the boardroom.
The tension was through the roof.
Everyone was staring at the table.
No one wanted to be the first to speak.
In moments like that, leadership is not about intelligence.
It’s about regulation.
Instead of shouting or looking for someone to fire, I said:
“This boardroom is now our war room.
We are going to find a solution together.
And I emphasised that last word.
Because bugs of that scale are never the fault of a single person, team, or department.
They are layered. Systemic. Built out of small decisions and missed signals.
And then it happened.
The relief in the room was palpable.
You could almost hear the exhale.
Shoulders dropped.
Eyes lifted.
People started speaking in full sentences again.
The energy shifted from fear and defensiveness to immediate collaboration.
No one was trying to survive the meeting anymore.
They were trying to solve the problem.
We didn’t have the solution yet.
But that small moment taught me something I carry with me today:
Genuine human interaction matters long before the outcomes do.
Because once people feel safe enough to tell the truth,
solutions become possible.
From that point on, each person mapped how their area contributed to the scenario that led to the bug.
Together we wrote a transparent incident report to the client.
I had everything I needed to call the client’s CEO.
And surprisingly, we found multiple ways to reduce the financial impact.
Competence fixes bugs.
Interaction determines whether the truth ever surfaces.
How do you lead when something breaks?
About this story
Shared by Johan Zammit, CEO of Smart Studios. Curated by Ghita Ramdhiansing, founder of See Suite and developer of Interaction Intelligence.