From Chaos to Coherence: Harnessing Energetics and Structure for Coherent Growth
Every founder knows the moment when their vision starts to fracture under the weight of growth. Talented team members working at cross-purposes. Quality offerings that somehow feel disconnected from the brand's soul. Systems that create more friction than flow. Despite everyone's individual skill and dedication, something fundamental feels misaligned.
As someone who delights in dining experiences of all kinds and types, and having owned and operated a restaurant, I found this dynamic perfectly captured in The Bear's chaotic kitchen in season one. For those who have watched the show, you'll remember: talented chefs, quality ingredients, but complete operational dysfunction. Despite everyone's individual skill, the misaligned energy, broken systems, and unclear leadership created constant friction. Each dinner service devolved into crisis management rather than operational mastery orchestrated in flow.
This is precisely what happens when businesses scale without coherence.
In business terms, coherence is the alignment between your vision (why you exist), your energy (how you operate internally), and your structure (the systems that execute your vision). When these three elements are synchronized, growth becomes sustainable and authentic, strengthening rather than diluting your market position—especially in uncertain economic environments. When they're misaligned, even the most talented teams create friction instead of flow, leading to operational dysfunction, expensive pivots, and brand confusion.
This is why, before considering going viral, going global, or going into retail, you need to ensure your internal operations, team dynamics, and structural blueprint are calibrated to the soul of your brand. Without this foundation, you're not scaling resonance—you're scaling risk.
And yet, most founders fall into predictable traps on the path to expansion. They over-index on vision without investing in structure, leading to burnout and mission drift. Or they default to "what has worked before and for other brands," without asking the deeper questions that ensure energetic alignment and protect brand equity—hiring fast, outsourcing quickly, adopting growth playbooks that don't match the soul of their brand.
A founder recently approached me after her product launch fell short of expectations. Despite investing significant time and resources into external marketing activities, the campaign failed to resonate with her target audience. It was quite clear what happened — her idea was beautiful, however, she had skipped the crucial step of taking the idea through what I call The Coherence Filter. This filter asks questions that enable to you architect the framework of coherence aligning vision, energy, and strategy. This misalignment led to confused messaging, eroded consumer trust, and ultimately forced her to end the campaign early. We took a step back to realign her vision, energy, and organizational structure with her offering. The result ? She is on target to double the revenue with half the effort.
This is the work that comes before strategy—coherence is what makes strategy effective. Distribution channels, influencer partnerships, and brand campaigns are executional layers. Without resonance in the foundation, they amplify dysfunction instead of scaling strength.
In The Bear, this shows up as Carmy initially trying to impose fine-dining standards on a neighborhood joint without understanding the existing culture. He had the vision and the skills, but he was building from urgency rather than alignment. The kitchen remained chaotic because he was forcing solutions instead of creating coherent ones.
The breakthrough comes when he learns to work with Richie's deep institutional knowledge, Sydney's innovative drive, and Marcus's methodical approach—honoring what worked while evolving what didn't. This shift from urgency to alignment is the key difference between forced expansion and sustainable growth.
None of these scaling approaches are inherently wrong, but success requires taking a pause to ensure internal coherence—analyzing your own business's energetic and structural alignment before adopting what worked elsewhere. Without this pause, founders create misaligned hires, off-brand messaging, partner friction, and growth that feels more like survival than expansion.
Trying to build a growth strategy on top of incoherent structure is like designing a penthouse before laying a foundation. Beautiful—but doomed.
The Essentials. The Breakdown. The Framework. and The Path Forward.