Many entrepreneurs today feel like the traditional business advice they receive just does not fit them. If you feel like something is off, you may not be imagining it. You may be bumping into the limits of an inherited system that was never designed for you. This is where the Human Operating System begins to offer a clearer, more human-aligned path forward.
A surprising number of entrepreneurs quietly believe they do not really know how to do business.
They did not go to business school. They have never run a company before. They are surrounded by confident advisors who claim to know what works.
Yet when they try to apply that advice, it feels:
Most people assume this friction means something is wrong with them.
"I must be too sensitive."
"I probably need to work harder."
"I should push through the discomfort."
But what if the discomfort is not a flaw? What if you are running into the operating system underneath modern business, a system you did not choose?
The business world you inherited was not built intentionally. It evolved out of old assumptions about human beings, work, and leadership. These assumptions formed what I call the Zombie Operating System (ZOS).
The ZOS originated during the Scientific Management era of the early 20th century, when businesses modeled themselves after factories and military command structures. Humans were treated like predictable units, built for output.
That legacy still shapes how most people think about:
Even if you have never studied this history, you have lived inside its logic.
Linguistic philosophy calls this invisible lens the Background of Obviousness. Your Background of Obviousness is not a conscious set of beliefs. It is the invisible filter through which you interpret everything, including business. The dominant background in business was formed entirely by the Zombie Operating System.
Its core assumptions include:
From within these assumptions, certain ideas feel “obvious”:
None of this is inherently true, It just feels true because you inherited it.
When solopreneurs tell me they are bad at sales, here is what I usually discover:
They are actually excellent at enrollment.
They listen well.
They care deeply.
They want to serve.
What they struggle with is manipulation and that is not a flaw.
The Zombie Operating System convinces people their ethical instincts are the problem. It creates businesses that are harder to love, harder to grow, and harder to lead, then tells you you are the issue.
You are not.
The model you were given was never meant for your kind of business or your kind of leadership.
The Human Operating System (HOS) is not a tactic or a set of quick fixes. It is a more accurate model of how people work. It reorients leadership and business around the realities of human beings, trust, care, clarity, and aligned commitments, rather than pressure, coercion, or control.
Shifting from the Zombie Operating System to the Human Operating System is a change in how you see, interpret, and design your business. It invites you to work with human nature instead of against it.
If traditional business advice has always felt off, that is not a sign that you are doing anything wrong. It is a sign that the underlying model you inherited was incomplete.
If you want to explore this perspective further, you can access the Human Operating System Manifesto below. It outlines the invisible assumptions behind the Zombie Operating System and offers a clear introduction to the Human Operating System.
The core takeaway is simple: if conventional business advice has never fit the way you work, there is nothing wrong with you. You were responding to an outdated system, not a personal failing.
The Human Operating System provides a model that aligns with how people actually think, communicate, and build trust. It replaces pressure and manipulation with clarity, care, and shared commitments.
You are not broken.
Your instincts were pointing you toward a more human-centered way to lead.