Give the pilot an owner who can scale it

Growth · Little Light original

A pilot often begins with unusual care. A small group clears obstacles, answers every question and remembers the details because the experiment matters to them. It succeeds. Then the idea is handed to a larger team with a folder, a deadline and none of the judgement that made the first version work. Scaling is not the moment when ownership becomes less important. It is when ownership has to become more visible. Someone must distinguish the essential practices from the temporary workarounds, notice where the process bends under volume and keep listening after the excitement of launch has passed. Choose that person while the pilot is still being designed. Give them enough authority to learn alongside the experiment and enough support to prepare others for what follows. Growth should not depend on preserving every condition of a tiny test. It should carry forward the care that made the test trustworthy. The best pilots do not merely prove that something can work once. They prepare someone to make it work responsibly again.

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