• NEW DOTS •
A substack about the slow, quiet collapse of excellence inside organizations—and what to do about it.
We’re not here to talk about the headline-grabbing disasters. We’re here to expose the real rot: the pleasant underperformers, the agreeable time-wasters, the “not bad” middle managers who are slowly smothering your A players in calendar invites and consensus.
This is a dispatch from the frontlines of organizational mediocrity. From the leaders who still give a damn. From the HR rebels who see it all. From the teams tired of playing nice while nothing changes.
No buzzwords. No fluff. Just sharp takes, real talk, and an unflinching look at what happens when we protect comfort over courage.
Want excellence? Make it unsafe to be average.
The Author, Dacia J. Faison-Roe
Writer | Culture Critic | Leadership Instigator | HR’s Favorite Respectful Rebel
I’ve spent the last two decades in rooms where strategy was discussed, performance was dissected, and culture was PowerPointed to death. I’ve worked in retail, tech, and corporate leadership—and what I’ve seen (and lived) is this: most companies don’t fail because of villains. They fail because of politeness. Because of systems designed to maintain comfort instead of excellence. Because we keep promoting the wrong people and punishing the right ones.
So now I write.
I write for the A players who are quietly burning out while carrying the weight of the team.
For the HR professionals who want to be architects, not janitors.
For the leaders who are brave enough to ask, “What if we’ve been doing it wrong?”
My style? Think Douglas Coupland in a sun dress and combat boots. A little irreverent, very human, and unflinchingly honest. I mix systems thinking with real-world mess, because performance is never just about metrics. It’s about people, power, and the weird stuff we never say out loud.
If you’re tired of reading the same sanitized leadership advice and want to talk real talk about talent, culture, and the silent sabotage of mediocrity—you’ve found the right page.
• NEW DOTS • The Blowtorch Method
Get your tasty charred nuggets
