Ever feel like you’re shouting into a void? You’ve got the vision. You’ve printed the "Core Values" posters. You even did that expensive offsite in Napa where everyone agreed to "synergize." Then Monday happens. People go right back to their old habits. It’s frustrating.
Honestly, most corporate culture initiatives fail because they ignore how humans actually function. They try to change the results without looking at the underlying machinery. This isn't about "mindset" in some woo-woo sense. It's about a specific framework developed by Steve Zaffron and Dave Logan. They call it The Three Laws of Performance.
💡 You might also like: Bank of America Hanover MA: How to Actually Get Things Done at the Washington Street Branch
If you haven't read their book, The Three Laws of Performance: Rewriting the Future of Your Organization and Your Life, you're basically trying to fix a car engine by polishing the hood. Zaffron and Logan (who also co-authored Tribal Leadership) argue that performance isn't about willpower. It’s about "occurrence."
How People Actually See the World
The First Law is the foundation: How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them. Sounds simple. Almost too simple. But look closer. Most managers treat performance as a series of actions. If Bob isn't hitting his numbers, the manager tells Bob to "work harder" or "follow the script." This focuses on the action. The Law says the action is just a symptom. If the situation "occurs" to Bob as a hopeless, bureaucratic mess where his boss doesn't care, his performance will naturally be sluggish. You can't "incentivize" your way out of that.
The "occurrence" isn't the facts. It’s the lens.
Think about a high-stakes meeting. One person sees a "threat to my career." Another sees a "chance to shine." They are in the same room, hearing the same words, but they are living in two different universes. Their performance in that meeting will be night and day. Why? Because you can only act on the world as you see it.
The Language Trap
The Second Law gets weirder: How a situation occurs arises in language. Language isn't just for describing things. It’s creative. It constructs our reality. Most of us are walking around with a "default future." This is the future that is going to happen if nothing changes. It’s built out of the unsaid stuff. The water cooler gossip. The "that's just how we do things here" vibes.
Zaffron and Logan point out that most organizations are haunted by "persistent complaints." These aren't just gripes. They are linguistic structures that lock the "occurrence" in place. If the team keeps saying "Management never listens," then every action management takes—even a positive one—will be filtered through the "they never listen" lens.
💡 You might also like: 750 000 pounds to dollars: What the Banks Don’t Tell You About Large Transfers
Language creates the clearing.
If you want to change how a situation "occurs" to your team, you have to change the conversation. Not just the "official" emails. The actual, lived language of the office. You have to clear out the "unsaid" to make room for something new. Without this, new initiatives are just seeds thrown on concrete.
The Three Laws of Performance and the Power of the Future
The Third Law is where the magic happens: Future-based language alters how a situation occurs to us, and thus causes a shift in performance.
Usually, we think the past determines the future. We look at last quarter's numbers to predict next quarter. The Three Laws flip this. They suggest that a "created future"—a vision that is spoken into existence—actually reaches back into the present and changes how things "occur" right now.
It’s not "positive thinking." It’s "generative language."
When a leader stands up and articulates a future that is so compelling it overrides the "default future," people’s immediate reality shifts. They aren't "trying" to work harder. They are simply acting in accordance with a new world.
Real World Stakes: The Landmark Connection
It’s worth noting that these laws didn’t appear out of thin air. They are heavily influenced by the work of Werner Erhard and the ontological coaching practiced at Landmark (formerly Landmark Education). This isn't just academic theory. These principles were famously applied at companies like Mazda and Magma Copper Company.
At Magma Copper, the situation was dire. The mine was facing closure. Labor relations were toxic. By applying these laws—specifically by getting the union and management to clear out the "unsaid" and create a new future together—they didn't just survive. They became one of the most productive mines in the industry. They didn't buy new equipment first. They changed the language first.
Why Your "Strategy" is Probably Failing
Strategy is usually a list of "whats."
- Increase market share by 5%.
- Reduce churn.
- Launch the new app.
But if the "occurrence" for the employees is "this is just another management fad," the strategy is dead on arrival. The Three Laws of Performance suggest that the "who" and the "how it occurs" are more important than the "what."
If you don't address the "unsaid" baggage in your team, you're just piling more weight onto a broken shelf. People have long memories. They remember the 2019 reorganization that went nowhere. They remember the promise that wasn't kept in 2022. All of that lives in the language. It makes the current project "occur" as "another waste of time."
You have to be willing to "complete" the past.
👉 See also: Fastest Growing Real Estate Markets: Why These "Refuge Cities" Are Winning in 2026
Completion doesn't mean forgetting. It means acknowledging what happened, saying what needs to be said, and then declaring it finished. Only then is the "occurrence" cleared for a new future to be written.
The Hidden Power of the "Unsaid"
Think about your own life. Is there a relationship that feels "stuck"?
Maybe it's a sibling.
Maybe it's your boss.
The "stuckness" is almost always a collection of unsaid things. Expectations that weren't met. Slights that weren't addressed. These unsaid things dictate how that person "occurs" to you. They could bring you a gift, and you'd think, "What do they want from me?"
To change the relationship, you have to change the language. You have to bring the unsaid into the said. It’s uncomfortable. It’s messy. But it’s the only way to shift the performance of the relationship.
Actionable Steps for Implementation
Don't just read this and nod. If you want to use the Three Laws of Performance, you have to get your hands dirty.
Identify the Default Future. Ask your team, "If we keep doing exactly what we're doing, and nothing radical changes, where will we be in three years?" Listen to the cynical answers. That’s your default future. That is how the work currently "occurs" to them.
Surface the Unsaid. Hold a meeting specifically for "persistent complaints." Don't get defensive. Don't try to fix them. Just let them be said. Write them on a board. Once they are out in the open, they lose their power to secretly color the "occurrence."
Create a Generative Future. This isn't a goal. A goal is "I want to lose 10 pounds." A generative future is "I am a person who lives a vibrant, healthy life." One is a task; the other is a new world to inhabit. For a business, this means declaring a future that is not a continuation of the past.
Watch the Language. Stop saying "I'll try." Start using "I commit" or "I will." Pay attention to the labels people use. If someone is labeled as "the difficult one," they will always "occur" as difficult, and they will perform accordingly. Change the label, change the performance.
Focus on the "Occurrence," not the Action. Next time you’re frustrated with someone's performance, stop and ask: "How must the situation be occurring to them such that their behavior makes perfect sense?" This shift from judgment to inquiry is the hallmark of a leader who understands these laws.
Performance isn't a struggle of will. It's a result of the world we've built with our words. Change the words, and the world—and the results—will follow.
Start by having one "impossible" conversation today. Clear the air. See what occurs next.
Next Steps for Mastery
- Audit Your Internal Monologue: For the next 24 hours, notice how your tasks "occur" to you. Are they "burdens" or "opportunities"? Notice the language you use to describe them.
- The "Unsaid" Exercise: Identify one person in your professional life where there is friction. List three things you haven't said to them that are coloring how they "occur" to you.
- Draft a Generative Declaration: Write a one-sentence "future" for your current project that isn't based on past metrics, but on a new possibility. Reach out to a colleague and share it to see if it shifts the energy of the room.