Blog - Lauren Pearl · Lauren Pearl
articleinsightDials to the right
18 March 2026Profit
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About Blog - Lauren PearlBack when I worked in IT, I heard one of the best metaphors I've ever come acrossFor the tension between efficiency and resilience.I was sitting with the big boss at the small consulting shop where I worked, helping think through database architecture for a large international client.At some point, he pulled up the server utilization gauges and explained something I've never forgotten.He said, in general, CEOs want every dial pushed all the way to the right;Full capacity, all the time. Because on paper, that looks like the right answer.No waste. Maximum utilization. Maximum profit.But IT managers know better.They optimize for all those dials sitting right in the middle.Because they know that when something unexpected happened, (and something always happens) you need room to absorb it.The CEO's version is efficient.The IT manager's version is resilient.I keep thinking about this…
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Apollo layer
What a founder can learn
Founder takeaway
Maximum utilization can make a business look efficient while leaving it unable to absorb surprises. Preserve deliberate slack in critical systems—such as team capacity or infrastructure—where overload would be costly.
Why it matters
Founders often treat unused capacity as waste, but running every resource at its limit can turn an unexpected event into missed commitments, degraded service, or operational failure. The right goal is not maximum utilization; it is sustainable performance with enough resilience.