Imagine your right leg becoming 20 times stronger overnight. At first it feels like a miracle. Move faster and jump higher than ever before. But soon my back hurts. My left foot can't keep up. The spine twists to absorb forces that it cannot normally handle. Your back will tighten and stay upright.
Strength is real, but so is new pain. If you suddenly feel a new force in an area of your own body, you will realize that something needs to be adjusted.
At least for now, there is no mass market for bionic legs. However, technological advances are everywhere in the business world, offering their own super-powerful versions. Artificial intelligence, automation, real-time dashboards, and rapid reporting are the real power. But if other members of the organization aren't doing their best to support that new power, tensions begin.
It is important to remember that all technology gives something and takes something away. GPS keeps you from getting lost, but without it your ability to navigate is diminished. Texting makes communication instant, but tone, timing, and warmth are lost. Automated customer service responds in seconds, but at the expense of empathy. The profits are real, but so are the losses. If we only measure what is gained, we overlook what is weakened along with it.
Check vital signs
When considering new technology, you need to think about the importance of tissue, just like your own body.
First vital signs: What's getting stronger? We measure wins like speed, scale, and accuracy that everyone loves.
Second, what is being weakened? What instincts will fade when sales teams stop walking the floor and rely entirely on dashboards? What troubleshooting skills will be lost when operators no longer manually adjust machines? These losses are like muscle atrophy, subtle until you need power and realize it's gone.
Third vital sign: Where power changes. Look at who currently has decision-making authority. When all solutions start with software rather than strategy, or when a failure of one platform brings down operations, new forms of weakness are created. Healthy companies, like healthy bodies, distribute power across multiple systems.
Fourth vital sign: Ability to recover. Can your organization continue to function without technical crutches, even if clumsily? If the braces were gone tomorrow, would you still be able to walk? Companies with this kind of analog resilience gain advantages that only emerge during times of disruption.
Align technology with mission, vision, and values
Technology changes who makes decisions, how information moves, and how people understand their work. If your mission, vision, and values aren't strong enough to absorb that pressure, your organization will swerve in directions you didn't intend.
Embrace the discomfort before signing off on a new system. Ask: If our efficiency depends on this technology, what happens if it fails? What are we willing to lose? If you don't name it before it costs you, you'll be caught off guard when it comes.
Vision requires its own testing. If your company claims to grow, innovate, or offer different services in five years, will this technology propel you toward that future, or will it only make today easier? The most dangerous tools are those that improve the next quarter but weaken the next decade.
Values require the most integrity. Does this tool make it harder for employees to act with integrity, empathy, and fairness? Does it develop judgment or replace it? The real test is not whether technology theoretically supports values, but whether people can put those values into practice while using technology.
When power appears as weakness
Most technology failures are not software failures. It's a failure of leadership, a breakdown in trust, clarity and accountability, and it starts long before anything breaks down. Combine faster reporting with quieter meetings. People follow the process, but with less confidence. The manager waits for a response from the platform. The team stops discussing ideas, assuming the data is already determined.
The rollout may appear to be a success. Metrics will improve. The dashboard lights up green. But even after the system is in place, do managers still feel responsible for the results, or are they pointing out what the platform has decided? When something goes wrong, do people fix it or hide behind the technology?
When people start saying, “The dashboard says so,'' or “The system won't allow it,'' that means ownership has shifted from people to software. The real test is to temporarily unplug it. Can your team sell without a CRM? Can you prioritize without automation? Can you explain your decisions without analytics? If not, you'll gain efficiency, but you'll lose resiliency.
Look beyond the output to spot inconsistencies early. Are people no longer making the same decisions they once made? Which conversations no longer occur? When does energy decline even as productivity increases? These are signs that while an organization's systems are getting stronger, its core muscles, purpose, judgment, and relationships are weakening.
How to add technology without losing cores
Diagnose the actual problem before adopting new technology. Don't start with the list of tools. Start where your organization has problems: delays, repeated errors, and wasting human resources on repetitive tasks. Technology should be a prescription, not something you buy with excitement. Pilot it with a small team and build internal champions who can uncover friction and communicate it to the rest of the organization.
Don't underestimate training. The strength of a tool is determined by the person using it. Most failures are not caused by the system, but by people not being ready to adapt.
Protect your organization's characteristics as you modernize. Use technology to remove friction, not replace the culture, services, and relationships that give you a competitive advantage. When measuring success, look beyond cost and speed. Ask if people are making better decisions, if momentum is building, and if innovation is getting easier. The smartest upgrades not only accelerate your output, but also sharpen your thinking.
Unbalanced bionic legs are to blame, right? Technology is no exception. It gives a new force to the organization, but that force becomes friction unless other parts of the organization adapt to it. The future does not belong to the fastest company. It belongs to a company strong enough and well-adjusted to handle its own power.
