The Competence Illusion

Who’s actually in charge here?

Simple question.

Should have a simple answer. The pilot flies the plane. The CEO runs the company. Someone has the whole picture.

But watch what happens when you push on it…

The pilot’s counting on air traffic control. Control’s watching software displays. The software’s trusting sensors. The sensors? Calibrated by a tech following a 1997 manual.

So who’s in charge?

Try this at your company. Pick any decision and trace it backwards. That strategic pivot? CEO blessed a deck she skimmed. The deck came from an analyst using last quarter’s assumptions. Those assumptions? Based on unverified data.

(You know that queasy feeling when the answer might be “nobody”?)

Here’s the thing: What if distributed semi-competence is how complex systems actually work?

Total knowledge requires impossible coordination. Total ignorance means instant collapse. So we live in between, each person knowing just enough to keep things moving.

Maybe competence isn’t having the whole map.

Maybe it’s knowing you don’t… and designing for that reality.