The Cycle

Here's the map of the Performance Game:

                ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                │                                             │
                ▼                                             │
         ┌─────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐                │
         │   MASTERY   │ ───► │DEMONSTRATION │                │
         │             │      │   (Window)   │                │
         └─────────────┘      └──────────────┘                │
                                    │                         │
                                    ▼                         │
                              ┌───────────┐                   │
                              │  COACHING │                   │
                              │ (Mirror)  │                   │
                              └───────────┘                   │
                                    │                         │
               ┌────────────────────┼────────────────────┐    │
               ▼                    ▼                    ▼    │
        ┌────────────┐      ┌──────────────┐      ┌──────────┴──┐
        │ALL WINDOW  │      │  ALL MIRROR  │      │ BOTTLENECK  │
        │ NO MIRROR  │      │  NO WINDOW   │      │    COACH    │
        └────────────┘      └──────────────┘      └─────────────┘
               │                    │                    │
               └────────────────────┼────────────────────┘
                                    ▼
                            ┌──────────────┐
                            │SYSTEMATIZE / │
                            │  OBSOLESCENCE│────────────────────┘
                            └──────────────┘

The progression:

• Mastery → You become good at something. Good enough to potentially help others.
• Demonstration → You show what's possible. The Window.
• Coaching → You help them see where they are and how to improve. The Mirror.

Then the fork:

• All Window, No Mirror → You inspire without enabling. People admire but don't improve.
• All Mirror, No Window → You diagnose without inspiring. People see problems but don't move.
• Bottleneck Coach → You transform but can't scale. People improve but only through you.

All paths eventually lead to systematization or obsolescence. The best coaches build themselves out of a job. They create curricula, methods, systems that work without them. Or the domain changes and their expertise becomes outdated.

And then? New mastery. New territory. Or elevation—teaching others to teach. The cycle continues.