The $605B Problem Hidden in Plain Sight (And Why It's Just the Tip of the Iceberg)

Every day, organizations lose millions in a cost center that never shows up on their balance sheets. Gallup calls it disengagement. I call it the "Silence Tax" - and it's far more expensive than most leaders realize.

Early in my career, I discovered why. While analyzing employee engagement surveys, I noticed something that changed how I think about organizational intelligence: critical insights were getting lost in translation between the frontlines and leadership. This disconnect isn't just frustrating - it's expensive.

When employees can't get their ideas heard or see the same problems go unaddressed, they first disengage, then they leave. And it's often your top performers - the ones who care deeply about making things better - who exit first. This silent exodus has real costs:

• When employees check out mentally, your business loses 21% in potential profitability
• Each time someone walks out the door, you're not just losing talent - you're losing invaluable institutional knowledge that took years to develop
• The cost to replace just one employee? Up to 9 months of their salary

And these are just the costs we can measure.

In my experience, it wasn't that employees weren't sharing. They were. It wasn't that leaders didn't want to listen. They did. The problem was that the systems designed to connect these two groups weren't working effectively.

In one organization, the solution turned out to be creating a cross-functional shadow board - giving employees direct channels to surface operational insights. For another, it was reimagining their town halls. The specific solution always varies because every organization has its own unique culture and constraints.

But here's what I've learned: The most valuable intelligence often gets stuck in the middle layer of organizations. Customer feedback that never reaches product teams. Process improvements that die in hallway conversations. Early warning signals that get filtered out before reaching decision-makers.

The good news? There are dozens of proven, plug-and-play approaches to unlock this intelligence. The key is understanding:

• Where your organization currently stands
• Which feedback systems actually work for your culture
• How to identify where critical information gets stuck
• What to do next based on your specific situation

And it just so happens that I am hosting my first-ever focused 45-minute workshop to share practical tools for assessing and improving your organization's information flow. You'll walk away with frameworks to audit your current systems and identify the approaches most likely to work for your unique context.

If you're curious about what insights might be hiding in your organization, join us on February 19th. Save your spot here: https://glassballconsulting.setmore.com/classes/ae5a085e-f5b0-4454-8266-1f9359b12786