Every system that frustrates your customer also dulls your brand. Every rule that makes no sense becomes a barrier to trust. And every moment that feels disconnected chips away at your credibility.
There are systems we inherit. And then there are systems we just keep repeating—without question, without logic, and often without anyone quite knowing why.
They’re everywhere.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I sent documents to American Express by email, as requested. I asked for a receipt confirmation. Their reply? They couldn’t acknowledge it—because they only operate with pre-written templates, and none existed for this particular situation. But if I received a future message marked ‘contact us urgently’, that would be my sign that they’d received my documents. That’s the official system. A delayed panic message equals successful delivery.
Welcome to modern efficiency.
Then there’s the ferry I took from Spain to the UK. The crew is French. They speak French. During a mock emergency exercise, announcements were made only in French—even though the majority of passengers were British. The result? Confusion, frustration, and a bit of chaos as people tried to make sense of what was happening.
And yet, the entire ship operates on UK time. You won’t find that explained anywhere. You’re just expected to know that you’ve left Spain, boarded a French ship, and entered a British time zone.
A world of small absurdities
We’ve built a world full of these small absurdities. Rules that once made sense but now just persist. Systems no one quite understands, yet everyone continues to follow. At some point, they stop serving people—and start serving themselves.
We like to talk about reinvention as bold strategy. New thinking. Disruption. But reinvention is also about the everyday. It’s about noticing friction that no longer needs to be there. It’s about asking, Why are we still doing it like this?—not just in boardrooms, but in booking systems, helplines, and intercom announcements.
Too many organisations treat systems like sacred texts. Don’t question it. Don’t touch it. Just keep repeating the ritual. But reinvention starts when you see absurdity as a signal—not an inconvenience, but an invitation to redesign.
Because every system that frustrates your customer also dulls your brand. Every rule that makes no sense becomes a barrier to trust. And every moment that feels disconnected—from context, from clarity, from common sense—chips away at your credibility.
This isn’t about perfection. It’s about presence. The best organisations—and frankly, the best leaders—are those who notice the absurd, and then do something about it. They don’t wait for a task force or a five-year plan. They fix the unnecessary complication. They rewrite the form. They ask, What would make this actually work for humans?
You don’t need a reinvention strategy to start. You just need curiosity and a little courage. The absurd is not always a sign of dysfunction—it’s often a signpost for where change is waiting to happen.
So, the next time you’re faced with a process that makes you shake your head—or a ferry where the language and the time zone are out of sync—don’t just laugh or complain.
Ask the better question.
What if we could do this differently?
Because somewhere in the middle of absurdity lives a very real opportunity to reinvent.
And that’s where the good stuff starts.
Photo: Dreamstime.
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