The Transfer Problem

Here's the core tension of the Performance Game: expertise is hard to transfer.

You know how to do something. You want them to know how to do it. Seems simple—just tell them, show them, explain it.

But expertise isn't just information. It's:

• Tacit knowledge—the stuff you do without thinking, that you might not even know you know
• Contextual judgment—knowing when to apply which principles
• Embodied skill—capabilities that live in your body, not just your mind
• Integrated understanding—seeing how the parts fit together

You can't transfer tacit knowledge by explaining—because you can't explain what you're not conscious of. You can't transfer contextual judgment by giving rules—because the contexts are infinite. You can't transfer embodied skill by demonstrating—because watching isn't practicing.

The failure modes of the Performance Game all trace back to the Transfer Problem:

• All Window, No Mirror: You try to transfer by demonstrating, but demonstration only shows the output, not the process.
• All Mirror, No Window: You try to transfer by diagnosing, but diagnosis only shows the gap, not how to cross it.
• Bottleneck Coach: You successfully transfer through direct interaction, but the transfer mechanism doesn't scale.

The people who win the Performance Game understand: you don't transfer expertise directly. You create conditions for expertise to develop.

This means: practice structures, feedback loops, progressive challenges, frameworks for self-diagnosis. Not teaching, exactly—building environments where learning happens.