Shell just sold Jiffy Lube to private equity for $1.3 billion—the same month oil markets went haywire and the Middle East went back to war. The deal is done. What happens next won't show up in a press release.

There's a calculator for the cost of meetings. There's no calculator for what it costs when leadership direction doesn't survive the cascade — but that cost is real, and it compounds.

The acquiring company assumes their way is the right way. They don't learn what was working or why. People feel diminished just for being on the acquired side. The pattern is consistent — and so is the ceiling it creates.