WHEN FAILURE CREATES LEGENDS

The mechanical shark, Bruce, in Jaws was a disaster. The hydraulics failed. The machinery jammed. The “star” of the movie could barely swim.

So Spielberg changed the script. Instead of showing the shark, he showed shadows, ripples, and terrified faces. Less shark, more fear. A flaw became the masterpiece.

That same constraint shows up in B2B sales every day.

We build our own mechanical sharks:

• •CRMs that frustrate sellers and end up being avoided
• •Pricing models that get lost in complexity instead of guiding
• •Dashboards that multiply until no one knows what to track
• •Comp plans that overwhelm and collapse under the weight of quota pressure
• •Rebate programs that confuse more than they clarify
• •Enablement libraries that bloat and bury the playbook sellers actually need

On paper, they look unstoppable. In practice, they stall.

And leaders face the same decision Spielberg faced. Force the shark back on screen with more metrics, more dashboards, more pressure. Or turn the breakdown into clarity by showing less and making it matter more.

Just as Spielberg made Jaws scarier by showing less shark, companies can make selling more effective by showing less clutter.

The test of leadership is not whether every system works perfectly, but whether breakdowns become moments of focus.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

• •When CRMs frustrate, spotlight the single field that shapes pipeline accuracy.
• •When pricing gets lost in models, anchor it to a clear story that sellers can actually explain.
• •When dashboards multiply, strip them back to the three metrics that guide action.
• •When comp plans overwhelm, focus sellers on the one number that drives the deal.
• •When rebate programs confuse, translate them into a visible price advantage that the customer can feel.
• •When enablement libraries bloat, elevate one playbook that your reps can actually use this quarter.

Great outcomes do not come from perfect systems. They come from leaders who turn constraints into clarity.