“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” – Proverbs 4:7

These days, I find myself thinking deeply about the invisible forces shaping our lives, our decisions, our relationships, and our institutions. One force in particular keeps showing up: incentives.

From Capitol Hill to City Hall, from corporate boardrooms to neighborhood barber shops, incentives are baked into how we operate, sometimes explicitly, sometimes unconsciously.

I look at policies that succeed and wonder, why did that work?
I see initiatives that fall flat and ask, what did we miss?
I notice decisions made in the name of progress that feel completely disconnected from the needs of the people, the real customer, which in my line of work often means the community.

And then I’m reminded of something I’ve known since college:
We are always responding to an incentive, even the ones we don’t see.
And more often than not, we’re reacting to systems built decades ago, responding to motivations rooted in stories we’ve forgotten.

That’s the thing about incentives: they shape our behavior while hiding in plain sight.

The Engine of My World

I work in banking. In my world, incentives are everywhere, written into strategy decks, built into compensation plans, living inside culture.

To lead well, I have to constantly ask: What’s in it for each person involved?

Not out of self-interest, but out of alignment.
Because when incentives are misaligned, systems break. Trust erodes. People perform below their potential. And even with the best of intentions, outcomes will drift.

“I’ve come to see incentives not just as tools for management, but as clues, signposts pointing to what people value, fear, or hope for.”

The Unseen Current Beneath Every Decision

Incentives aren’t just about bonuses or KPIs. They’re often the unspoken motivations beneath how we behave.

So now, I’ve trained myself to ask two simple questions in nearly every situation:

1. What is this person incentivized to do?
2. And what am I incentivized to do here?

Those two questions can clarify what hours of meetings cannot.
That difficult vendor? They may just be protecting their margin.
That slow-moving regulator? They may be under pressure to avoid risk.
That disengaged team member? They may be caught in a system that punishes initiative.

When we start seeing incentives clearly, we start leading more clearly.
And sometimes, what we find isn’t easy.

They reveal what’s possible, if we have the courage to see it.

The Point of Tension, Where Real Leadership Begins

Sometimes what’s best for the customer in the short term doesn’t match what’s best for the bottom line.
Sometimes what inspires your best people doesn’t align with the bonus structure.

And that’s where real leadership begins.

That’s when you have to step back, not just to make a better decision, but to redesign the system.
To create space for alignment between values and outcomes.

So next time you’re in a tough conversation or navigating a broken process, ask:

• What’s the incentive here?
• What do they want?
• What do I want?
• Where’s the alignment, and where’s the fracture?

Because incentives don’t just explain what’s happening.

They reveal what’s possible, if we have the courage to see it.

From the Shareholder to the Street