Different Diagnosis, Different Remedy

Description

Applies when a directive or a problem spans several people or cases that superficially look alike. Peter refuses a uniform answer and sorts by diagnosis first, then applies the remedy that diagnosis calls for. The 2026-08-28 observation states the consequence for recording his decisions: when he gives a directive spanning several cases, the decision is almost never any single remedy - it is the rule that produces DIFFERENT remedies, and four cases with four different answers under one rule means the rule is the decision. The 2026-04-17 observation confirms he holds this as an explicit framework rather than an instinct. Related to Three-Lever Talent Management but distinct: that pattern runs hire, develop and exit in parallel, this one is about diagnosis determining which lever a given case gets. Mined from 6 independent observations between 2026-02-03 and 2026-08-28.

Typical Approach

Sort before treating. On people, the axis is usually salvageability and assessed intent rather than severity of symptom - capable-but-slow gets a level cap and relationship management, fixable underperformance gets active management with an exit path, and unreachability gets sorted by whether the cause is legible and bounded rather than by how bad it looks. A visible cause with a defined end gets material support delivered as a specific bounded offer; an unverifiable cause with no end gets escalation once the support path is demonstrably exhausted. On operational directives, refuse the uniform standard where the correct answer genuinely differs by workload or by case, and treat an unexplained number as missing information before concluding bad judgment. Use data-driven frameworks - effort/impact matrices, must-keep lists - to make the sorting defensible rather than merely felt. Remove the fear of loss before asking a manager to make a hard call, and name the pressure an org is under out loud specifically so it cannot be used to justify lowering a bar.

Trigger Conditions