🪵 STOP ARGUING WITH THE DIRT

Earlier this week, I was talking with an HR leader about something called a desire path.

If you’ve seen one, you know exactly what I mean: the muddy trail that appears when people ignore the sidewalk and just walk the way that actually makes sense to them.

No planning. No permission. Just behavior.

The idea stopped me in my tracks — not because it’s clever, but because it’s painfully true about how culture actually works inside organizations.

We spend so much time designing the “sidewalks” of our companies — values, playbooks, frameworks, expectations — and then get frustrated when people don’t follow them.

Meanwhile, the real paths are being worn into the dirt right in front of us.

✨ What this reveals

We like to believe our values are what’s written on the wall. But in reality, our values are revealed by where people actually walk to be successful.

The real questions aren’t:
What do we say we care about?

They’re:
What do people actually do when things go right here?
What do they do when things go wrong?
Which behaviors get rewarded—formally or informally?

Those stories—the wins and the face-plants—are your organization’s true desire paths.

And here’s the uncomfortable part:

If the behaviors people use to succeed don’t match your stated values…
the problem may not be your people.

It may be your values.

Sometimes the most honest move isn’t to force people back onto the sidewalk—it’s to lay the sidewalk where they’re already walking.

🔥 Something to share

Here’s a simple exercise you could run with your leadership team this month.

Ask three questions and collect real stories:

1. Think of times people have been truly successful here? What did they actually do that worked well?

2. When did something go badly? What behaviors led to that outcome?

3. If we wanted more of the good and less of the bad, what behaviors should we reward?

Then, look at your official values and ask:
“Do our values describe what we wish happened—or what actually helps people win here?”

That gap is your desire path.

🔦 What we’re hearing

Across different companies, leaders keep saying things like…

• “Our values sound nice, but they don’t show up in how we operate.”

• “We reward hustle more than collaboration, even though collaboration is on the wall.”

• “People know how to succeed here—it’s just not what we say we value.”

The organizations that make the most progress aren’t the ones who lecture people about values. They’re the ones who get curious about behavior first.

Final thought: This is the kind of work we spend a lot of time on inside Campfire—helping teams move from slogans to systems, and from intentions to real, lived culture.

For now, I’m curious:

If you looked honestly at your organization’s desire paths, what do you think they would reveal about what you truly value? Are there sidewalks and dirt paths?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to reply!

Warmly,
Steve

Sent from Campfire—a hub for developing leaders at scale.