This essay examines why leadership so often disappoints even when organizations are well run and people act in good faith.
Rather than focusing on personalities or vision, the essay shows how outcomes are decided upstream through belief installation, advisory saturation, and the professionalization of reform. By the time a leader arrives, choice has narrowed and legitimacy has stabilized. Using modern organizational failures alongside a clear reading of Frank Herbert’s Dune as a systems study, the piece argues that competence can accelerate harm, reform becomes ritual, and leaders often serve as stabilizing interfaces rather than true decision makers.
Eddie Killian 