“Who is actually responsible for making this happen next week?”

The more stories we share, the harder it is to ignore: outcomes don’t fail at the end, they fail in the interaction before.

“In one of the EU-funded projects I was working on, I remember sitting in a room where everyone seemed perfectly aligned. Researchers, policymakers, startup founders. We were all saying the right things about the need for stronger collaboration between academia and industry. It felt productive. But as the weeks went by, nothing actually moved. No decisions, no ownership, no real progress.

It wasn’t a lack of competence. Everyone around the table knew exactly what they were doing. It was the interaction. We were staying in agreement, but avoiding direction.

At one point, I paused and asked, “Who is actually responsible for making this happen next week?”

The room went quiet. Uncomfortable.

But that question changed everything.
Within minutes, we had clarity. One person took ownership, a concrete next step was defined, and a timeline was set.

Progress started the moment the interaction changed.”