A needed product. Someone willing to buy it. MVP done – a business launched!
At first glance, business sounds wonderfully simple. Make something good, sell it, and keep going. Then a few questions appear:
Who decides what “good” means?
Who finds the materials?
Who pays the salaries before the customer pays the invoice?
And who notices when a decision with a seemingly high return on investment (ROI) might cross ethical lines?
I like to imagine a company growing from an idea in an egg to a hungry caterpillar, through the awkward reorganisation of a chrysalis, and eventually into a butterfly with a wider reach. The image helps me see how the work changes. It also raises a more reflective question: what should grow alongside a company’s revenue?
1. Slice and dice: department stereotypes and James Bond missions
Every department has a mission. Somewhere between the job description and the third meeting, it also acquires a stereotype.
Think James Bond mission briefs, with more spreadsheets. Make the product. Find the buyer. Keep the cash moving. Protect the people. Everyone has an assignment; the interesting part is what happens when those assignments meet.
One promise, many strings attached. Here is my compassion slice-and-dice of business departments and their missions. These are caricatures with humor flavored for reflection:
The stereotype gets a temptative smile. The mission deserves a little more reflection. Sales’ “yes” becomes operations’ deadline, finance’s cash question and customer service’s promise to keep. That is where the table becomes a conversation.
1.1. Choose direction
| Department, role & function | The familiar office stereotype | The course correction: mission and vision |
|---|---|---|
| CEO & executive leadership Set direction and own the results. | “Net profit, please.” | Bring every instrument together for a remarkably fabulous concert. |
| Strategy Choose where to compete and commit resources. | “We need a strategy.” Forty slides later, everything is still a priority. | Choose what matters and give it the means to happen. |
| Board & corporate governance Oversee leadership, performance and risk. | “Any questions?” Silence. Minutes approved. | Ask awkward questions before approving comfortable answers. |
1.2 Make and deliver something good
| Department, role & function | The familiar office stereotype | The course correction: mission and vision |
|---|---|---|
| Product, R&D & engineering Develop useful, workable products. | “One tiny improvement.” Version 47 enters the chat. | Make every feature earn its place. |
| Production & service delivery Turn the offer into reality. | “Beautiful concept. Which machine is supposed to make it?” | Make quality repeatable and ambition workable. |
| Purchasing & procurement Secure supplies and partners. | “Excellent price.” Delivery date: a plot twist. | Buy a bargain that stays a bargain after delivery. |
| Operations, supply chain & logistics Keep work and deliveries moving. | “It’s all under control.” Someone is moving pallets at midnight. | Give everyone fewer emergencies to be heroic about. |
| Quality & regulatory affairs Keep products consistent and compliant. | “It’s a tiny change.” Fourteen questions and a checklist appear. | Quality · Consistency · Protection |
1.3 Win customers and keep promises
| Department, role & function | The familiar office stereotype | The course correction: mission and vision |
|---|---|---|
| Market & customer insights Investigate needs, competitors and change. | “We need more research.” Preferably confirming what we already decided. | Ask questions that could change your mind. |
| Marketing & brand Connect the offer with demand. | “Let’s make it pop.” Everyone nods. Nobody knows what pops. | Make the moon reachable, and the product’s value clear. |
| Sales & account management Win customers and grow relationships. | “Yes, we can do that.” Operations has just stopped chewing. | Promise clearly, deliver reliably, earn the repeat order. |
| Customer service & success Help customers get value and resolve problems. | “Sorry for the inconvenience.” The customer now knows the hold music by heart. | Turn hold music into problems solved. |
1.4. Fund the business and equip the people
| Department, role & function | The familiar office stereotype | The course correction: mission and vision |
|---|---|---|
| Finance, planning & treasury Fund the business and manage cash. | “Love the ambition.” Opens spreadsheet. The room gets quieter. | Help good ideas survive contact with cash flow. |
| Accounting & tax Keep reliable records and meet obligations. | “Please attach the receipt.” Your inbox becomes an archaeological site. | Keep the financial picture clear, current and honest. |
| HR, people & organisational development Hire, develop and organise people. | “People are our greatest asset.” The development budget is mysteriously missing. Office drama airs daily. | Attract · Keep · Grow |
| IT & digital systems Keep technology usable and dependable. | “Have you restarted it?” You resent how often this works. “Have you raised a ticket?” | Make the technology fit the work. |
| Data, analytics & AI Turn information into useful decisions and tools. | “We’ve built a dashboard.” Twelve tabs. One unanswered question. | Automate the routine; keep judgement in the room. |
1.5. Protect people and earn trust
| Department, role & function | The familiar office stereotype | The course correction: mission and vision |
|---|---|---|
| Environment, health & safety Prevent harm at work and manage operational impacts. | “It’ll only take a second.” Said while standing on a swivel chair. | Make safe work the easy choice. |
| Cybersecurity & privacy Protect systems, access and personal data. | “Just one more verification step.” Your coffee is now cold. | Protect the doors without blocking the people. |
| Legal Guide lawful decisions and workable agreements. | “It depends.” The five-minute question has acquired footnotes. | Make the rules clear and the agreement workable. |
| Compliance & risk management Identify risks and support effective safeguards. | “Just this once.” The phrase that launched a training module. | Catch the concern before it becomes a headline. |
| Internal audit Independently assess governance and controls. | “We always do it this way.” “Wonderful. Can you show me?” | Check that the safety net actually holds. |
| Sustainability & CSR Understand social and environmental impacts and drive improvement. | “Could you make this greener?” The design is finished. The launch is tomorrow. | Connect real impact with business value and measurable returns. |
1.6 Spread the wings
| Department, role & function | The familiar office stereotype | The course correction: mission and vision |
|---|---|---|
| Business development & partnerships Open markets, channels and relationships. | “Let’s grab a coffee.” The pipeline is now mostly caffeine. | Turn the coffee into a partnership worth keeping. |
| Corporate development & M&A Assess deals and help realise their value. | “The deal is done!” Integration would like a word. | Make the deal work after the signature, too. |
| PR, communications & public affairs Build public relationships and explain decisions. | “We need a positive story.” Reality has requested a few edits. | Let the positive story match the lived experience. |
| Investor relations Explain performance, strategy and risks to investors. | “A strong quarter.” The numbers would like to add some context. | Show the figures fairly, with their context intact. |
2. Cut to the Chase: Cross-Functional Collaboration, Awkward Questions and the Embarrassment Shield
Every department has its mission. The awkward questions begin where one department’s success becomes another department’s surprise. Trade-off between paradoxes.
Imagine a wonderfully well-run company not a corporate fairy tale where everybody smiles in perfect synchronisation, but an organisation where information travels, promises remain deliverable and fewer people must become midnight heroes.
The Perfectly Coordinated Company: 27 Departments in Three-Word Mission Briefs
| Business priority | Department or function | Key missions |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Choose the direction | CEO and executive leadership | Direction · Coherence · Accountability |
| Strategy | Prioritise · Resource · Execute | |
| Board and corporate governance | Question · Oversee · Challenge | |
| 2. Make and deliver something good | Product, R&D and engineering | Useful · Workable · Worthwhile |
| Production and service delivery | Quality · Capacity · Consistency | |
| Purchasing and procurement | Value · Reliability · Responsibility | |
| Operations, supply chain and logistics | Flow · Timing · Delivery | |
| Quality and regulatory affairs | Prevent · Verify · Protect | |
| 3. Win customers and keep promises | Market and customer insights | Listen · Investigate · Anticipate |
| Marketing and brand | Clarify · Connect · Inspire | |
| Sales and account management | Understand · Promise · Earn | |
| Customer service and success | Resolve · Reassure · Retain | |
| 4. Fund the business and equip its people | Finance, planning and treasury | Fund · Forecast · Sustain |
| Accounting and tax | Record · Explain · Comply | |
| HR and organisational development | Attract · Keep · Grow | |
| IT and digital systems | Enable · Connect · Recover | |
| Data, analytics and AI | Inform · Automate · Augment | |
| 5. Protect people and earn trust | Environment, health and safety | Prevent · Prepare · Protect |
| Cybersecurity and privacy | Secure · Detect · Respond | |
| Legal | Interpret · Advise · Agree | |
| Compliance and risk management | Identify · Safeguard · Escalate | |
| Internal audit | Examine · Evidence · Improve | |
| Sustainability and CSR | Measure · Integrate · Transform | |
| 6. Spread the wings | Business development and partnerships | Explore · Connect · Expand |
| Corporate development and M&A | Assess · Integrate · Realise | |
| PR, communications and public affairs | Explain · Engage · Earn | |
| Investor relations | Inform · Contextualise · Build confidence |
On paper, it sounds remarkably smooth. In practice, the interesting part sits between those verbs.
Sales may promise before operations confirms capacity. Procurement may secure value until quality inspects what arrived. Marketing may inspire, while customer service inherits expectations that reality cannot quite reach. Finance may protect cash today but unintentionally postpone an investment needed tomorrow.
This is where reverse-engineering becomes useful. Start with the desired return, then walk backwards through the assumptions, handovers and possible points of failure:
- What must go right for this decision to create the expected return?
- Which assumption would change our minds if it proved false?
- Where does one department’s target create another department’s risk?
- Can we deliver the promise at the proposed quality, cost and speed?
- Is the bargain still a bargain after delays, rework or reputational damage?
- Who receives the upside and who quietly carries the downside?
- Does the public story survive a private conversation with employees, suppliers or customers?
- If something goes wrong, who notices first, who decides and who acts?
These are cautionary questions, but they are not designed to kill ambition. Good risk management is not a corporate handbrake; it is more like the guardrail that lets the business take a promising bend without driving straight through the scenery ( just like AI hulluciation guardrail much needed 😉
That requires an embarrassment shield.
The embarrassment shield protects the person’s dignity meanwhile leaving the decision open to scrutiny and continuous improvement. “I don’t know yet” should give us something to investigate. “We have always done it this way” should probably do the same. The aim is not to make someone look clever or foolish but to make the decision better.
The facilitator’s role is to reconnect the means with the end goal: translate finance’s caution, operations’ capacity, sales’ opportunity and legal’s conditions into one workable decision. Cross-functional collaboration becomes less about everyone agreeing and more about everyone understanding what they are agreeing to.
For me, the bridge between departments can be seemingly insignificantly important but powerful agreement (a difficult job too) :
Name the risk. Test the assumption. Agree the safeguard. Give someone the next move.
Finance can test whether the return survives a less cheerful forecast. Operations can verify the capacity behind the promise. Legal, quality and sustainability can reveal costs or consequences that the headline figure leaves out. Sales and marketing can then decide whether the opportunity remains attractive when the whole picture is visible.
This is where risk minimisation and return maximisation finally meet. A safeguard may protect a margin, prevent rework, preserve trust or help a promising idea reach the customer in better shape. Yet safeguards also consume time and money, so the real question is not how to eliminate every risk.
It is which precautions are proportionate, which risks are worth taking and which returns remain worthwhile after the full cost is counted.
Edmondson and Bransby’s (2023) review places psychological safety within research on learning, leadership and work experience. It gives this everyday concern a research connection: how much interpersonal risk does someone take when they speak up here?
Then comes the less glamorous part: actually checking, deciding who will act, and coming back with an answer.
Corporate governance belongs in that conversation, too. The G20/OECD principles place accountability and checks and balances at their centre (OECD, 2023a). My practical question is whether the awkward question can reach someone with the responsibility, accountability and willingness to do something about it.
3. From caterpillar to butterfly: growth changes the coordination
If the incubator were an idea: a needed product and someone willing to buy it. The caterpillar is hungry. More customers, more orders, more cash, more capacity. The founder may be selling in the morning, purchasing at lunch and checking an invoice before bed. The missions are already there, even when the department names are not.
Then comes my favourite, slightly awkward image: the chrysalis. Work needs reorganising. The person who once knew every order can no longer be the answer to every question.
Who decides? Who needs to know? Where does one team’s promise become another team’s responsibility?
The research offers a useful companion to this metaphor. Jansen and Tippmann’s (2026) review connects scaling with resources, business models and organisational capacity, and examines how their interaction can support growth or create strain. In my picture, feeding the caterpillar is only part of the work; the organisation must also develop the capacity to carry its growing appetite.
A growing SME may need clearer handovers, dedicated expertise and fewer decisions waiting on one person. Across a larger corporation or multinational company, coordination may stretch across sites, markets and time zones. How does the promise survive the journey from the sales conversation to the customer’s doorstep?
The butterfly has a wider reach. More people may encounter the product, work in its supply chain or hear its public story. I like to ask whether its sense of responsibility has grown with its wingspan.
This is my metaphor, rather than a fixed sequence every business follows. A company can choose to stay small. A private company can operate internationally. A public listing is another choice, rather than the final wing of the butterfly.
From startup to SME, corporation or MNC, what needs to change so the company can keep its promises at its new size? More boxes on the organisational chart are useful when they help people answer that question.
4. The web beyond the walls
Follow any thread in the department table and it leads outside the company.
Purchasing reaches suppliers. Sales reaches customers, whether B2B or B2C. Finance reaches investors and lenders. Accounting meets the tax administration. HR meets labour authorities. Public affairs meets public administration and the communities affected by business decisions.
There are other minds in the web, too: management, marketing and CSR consultants; firms such as BCG and Bain & Company; advisers bringing fresh ideas and an outside view. An outside perspective can open a useful question. The company still has to decide what to do with the answer.
The spider web interests me because a pull on one thread travels. A lower purchasing price prompts questions about supplier conditions. A faster delivery promise prompts questions about workload. A larger market prompts questions about whose needs we understand and whose concerns we have barely heard.
The OECD’s responsible business conduct guidelines offer a reference point here. These government recommendations address impacts connected with companies’ operations, products and services, including labour rights, the environment, consumers and supply chains (OECD, 2023b).
For me, two insights hold the web together: being held accountable, and improving life with our means, wits and ends as an evolving civilised society.
Our means include money, materials, technology and people’s time.
Our wits include knowledge, creativity and judgement.
Our ends deserve the awkward question: whose life are we trying to improve, and who carries the cost?
The company can answer with a product, a payment, a working condition, an honest explanation or a decision to change course. I want the public story to be able to meet those everyday answers without requesting too many edits.
P.S. The MBA Oath
The MBA Oath brings me back to the person making the decision. In 2009, a group of graduating Harvard Business School students developed a voluntary ethical pledge (McKiernan & Gary, 2009). It gives a historical reference to the question running through this piece: what do we owe the people affected by our work?
I like the intention. I am especially interested in what happens after the signature: the tempting sale, the inconvenient figure, the colleague raising a concern. That is where I would look for the oath in practice.
References:
American Marketing Association. (n.d.). Definitions of marketing. https://www.ama.org/the-definition-of-marketing-what-is-marketing/
Churchill, N. C., & Lewis, V. L. (1983). The five stages of small-business growth. Harvard Business Review, 61(3), 30–50. https://hbr.org/1983/05/the-five-stages-of-small-business-growth
Edmondson, A. C., & Bransby, D. P. (2023). Psychological safety comes of age: Observed themes in an established literature. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 10, 55–78. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-120920-055217
Eliot, D. (2024). NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0: Small business quick-start guide (NIST Special Publication 1300). National Institute of Standards and Technology. https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.1300
Jansen, J. J. P., & Tippmann, E. (2026). Scalability and scaling in management research: Toward a process model integrating fragmented literatures. Academy of Management Annals. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.5465/annals.2025.0099
McKiernan, P. S., & Gary, L. (2009, June 4). Some HBS students adopt ethical code. The Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/06/some-hbs-students-adopt-ethical-code/
OECD. (2023a). G20/OECD principles of corporate governance 2023. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/ed750b30-en
OECD. (2023b). OECD guidelines for multinational enterprises on responsible business conduct. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/81f92357-en
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2011). Guiding principles on business and human rights: Implementing the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework. United Nations. https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf
Public Relations Society of America. (n.d.). About public relations. https://www.prsa.org/about/all-about-pr
The MBA Oath. (n.d.). About the oath. https://mbaoath.org/history-new/
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