The Human Cost of Delivery Noise: How Leaders Protect Decisions, Credibility, and Outcomes in High-Risk Mega Projects.
High-risk projects rarely fail because leaders lack intelligence, experience, or data. They fail because critical information becomes distorted as it moves through organizations under pressure. Schedule urgency, optimism bias, authority gradients, and reputational concerns create what I call delivery noise: the gradual distortion of decision-relevant information before it reaches decision-makers.