What is The Zoo of Corporate Failure?

It's fictional. Mostly.

These characters are drawn from real experiences across multiple organisations where business objectives weren't clearly communicated or anchored throughout the company. When strategic direction becomes murky, people create their own realities.

Without proper guidance and mentorship, emerging leaders set off on their own to build fiefdoms around their perceived expertise. The Buzzword Baboon masters strategic language to avoid accountability. The Meeting Meerkat creates endless collaboration theater. The Customer Journey Jaguar obsesses over behavioral data while losing sight of actual customer needs.

Each believes their domain is mission-critical. Each views company objectives through their own lens, often completely divorced from business reality. The result? Tribal warfare where departments optimise for their own metrics, each thinking they're doing the best for the company, while the organisation actually suffers.

This dysfunction typically emerges during vulnerable periods: rapid growth phases, budget pressures, leadership transitions, or when inexperienced managers are promoted without proper development. Instead of rising to meet challenges collectively, teams fragment into competing kingdoms.

The Zoo of Corporate Failure isn't about mocking individuals—it's about highlighting what happens when leadership fails to build solid organisational culture. When communication breaks down and people don't understand how their success connects to company success.

The solution isn't complex: clear communication, collective responsibility, and alignment of interests. When I do well, the company does well. When the company does well, I do well. And understanding that this applies to colleagues as well—learning to celebrate each other's success as your own.

Simple in theory. Brutally hard in practice.

And that's why the zoo is always open for business.