The disagreement underneath the disagreement

When sales and marketing disagree about lead quality, the surface argument is usually about specific leads. The underlying disagreement is almost always about the definition of 'qualified' itself — and no amount of arguing about individual leads resolves a definitional gap.

The framework works backward from a specific, recurring point of friction to the definitional disagreement causing it, then resolves that definition explicitly and in writing, with both sides' input, before returning to the original friction point.

This sounds simple and is reliably the highest-leverage single intervention we make in most engagements — organizations routinely operate for years with unresolved definitional gaps quietly taxing every cross-functional interaction.