When theatre works (and when it becomes expensive noise)

Theatre is not the enemy of business — it makes the craft visible and turns ordinary products into experiences. But in most leadership teams, theatre lives in exactly the wrong place: in the boardroom, hiding weak thinking and avoiding accountability.

Theatre is not the enemy of business. The problem is that most leadership teams stage it in exactly the wrong place — in the boardroom instead of in the market.

Key takeaways

• Good theatre makes the craft visible. It helps clients feel the quality before they can fully explain it — and it earns the right to a premium.
• Bad theatre hides weak thinking. Long presentations, abstract language, and the comfort of 'alignment' replace the harder work of choosing, owning and following through.
• Healthy companies need both performance and machinery. The shift is not removing theatre — it is putting it where it belongs. Less performance in the boardroom. More performance in the market.

Recently in Madrid, I had lunch at Sala de Despiece.

It is a restaurant. It is also theatre.

The chefs work in front of you. The ingredients are visible. The knives, the rhythm, the small precise gestures — everything is staged. And yet nothing feels fake.

Why?

Because the theatre reinforces the craft.

You see the skill. You feel the attention. You understand the creativity. The performance makes the product stronger.

That is good theatre.

Where theatre earns its keep

Last summer I walked into the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Milan. The same principle, scaled up.

Copper roasters the size of small buildings. A mosaic floor. Pipes carrying green beans across the ceiling. The smell of coffee being turned into something else, in front of you. People with phones. A queue at the bar, a queue at the merchandise wall.

It is unapologetically theatre. And it works for the same reason Sala does — the performance reinforces the craft. You feel the quality before anyone has to explain it.

Starbucks Reserve Roastery, Milan. All theatre — and earned.

Even the ordinary Starbucks down the street works on the same principle. You do not just buy coffee — you enter a small ritual. The smell. The cups. Your name. The barista calling out the order. All designed.

Some people find it overdone. Fair enough. But commercially, it works.

Because theatre can seduce clients. It can make craftsmanship visible. It can turn an ordinary product into an experience. It can help people feel something before they fully understand it.

Business needs some of that. A company without any theatre becomes cold, mechanical and forgettable. A little lemon zest helps.

Where it becomes expensive noise

But here is the problem I see again and again.

Many leadership teams use theatre in exactly the wrong place.

Executives talk for twenty minutes when one clear sentence would do. They avoid the real issue with abstract language. They present strategy as if the number of slides proves the quality of the thinking.

They say “alignment” when they mean “nobody has really committed.”

They say “transformation” when they mean “we hope people will behave differently after this town hall.”

They speak when they should shut up. And they stay silent when they should finally say what everyone in the room already knows.

That is also theatre. But it is not useful theatre.

It is expensive noise.

The pattern I keep seeing

I have watched leadership teams spend months creating a strategy. Beautiful slides. Smart words. Good-looking frameworks. A strong launch. Energy in the room.

And then?

Not much.

No weekly rhythm. No visible scoreboard. No hard choices. No honest follow-up. No uncomfortable conversation about progress. No one holding anyone accountable.

That is not strategy. That is corporate theatre. And the audience has already left the room.

The uncomfortable truth

Execution is often boring.

Not boring because it is unimportant. Boring because it requires repetition.

• Following up.
• Checking progress.
• Removing obstacles.
• Clarifying ownership.
• Measuring what matters.
• Having the same conversation until behaviour actually changes.

Most leaders like the theatre of strategy. Fewer leaders like the discipline of execution.

But healthy companies need both. Enough theatre to create energy, identity and desire. Enough machinery to make the business run smoothly, predictably and profitably.

A good business is not a circus. But it is also not a spreadsheet.

Putting theatre in the right place

In our work with leadership teams, this is often the real shift. Not removing theatre. Putting it where it belongs.

Use theatre when it makes the craft visible. Use it when you want clients to feel the quality before they can fully explain it. Use it when you launch something important and people need to care. Use it to celebrate progress.

But stop using theatre to hide weak thinking. Stop using it to avoid accountability. Stop using it to make strategy look better than it actually is. Stop confusing communication with execution.

Less performance in the boardroom. More performance in the market.

Less talk about priorities. More follow-up on the few that matter. Less pretending. More rhythm. Less noise. More craft.

Because the goal is not to run a boring company. The goal is to run a healthy one. One that performs well. One that renews itself. One that knows how to seduce clients — and how to make hard choices. One that can enjoy the work without losing discipline.

That is the balance.

A little lemon zest. And a machine that actually works.

On execution as the symptom, not the problem

Over to you.