Recurring problems are rarely a shortage of capable people
Karamawari helps CEOs and leadership teams uncover what capable people have been missing, so costly problems stop returning.
When the same problem survives multiple fixes, the natural response is to try harder: another process, restructure, technology investment, consultant or transformation. But recurrence is evidence that something important remains unresolved. Karamawari works alongside the people who understand your organisation best to uncover the conditions, assumptions and behaviours influencing the decisions that keep recreating the problem. We make those hidden connections visible, help your people determine what needs to change, and build the internal capability to prevent recurrence: reducing avoidable cost, recovering capacity and improving performance without creating dependency on us.
Karamawari's Vision
A world where organisations stop paying for the same problems twice.
Karamawari's Mission
To help leaders and their people uncover what keeps costly problems coming back, change the conditions that recreate them, and build the capability to keep them solved.
Karamawari's Values
Curiosity before certainty
We resist the pressure to reach an answer before we understand the problem. We question what appears obvious, distinguish evidence from assumption and remain willing to discover that our first explanation was wrong.
Respect for capability
We know the people closest to the problem are capable and possess knowledge outsiders don't. Our role isn't to replace their expertise but to help reveal what has been difficult to see from inside the system.
Courage over comfort
Persistent problems sometimes survive because important things are difficult to say, challenge or change. We surface uncomfortable evidence respectfully and are prepared to challenge assumptions, including our own.
Evidence over opinion
Plausible explanations aren't enough. We look for evidence connecting conditions, assumptions, behaviours, decisions and impacts before we recommend you propose solutions.
Simplicity from complexity
Organisations are complicated enough. We help you identify the smallest number of meaningful changes capable of altering the conditions that recreate the problem rather than adding layers of process, governance or bureaucracy.
Capability over dependency
Success isn't making our clients dependent on Karamawari. We work alongside their people, transfer understanding and capability, and leave the organisation better able to solve difficult problems itself.
Karamawari's Beliefs
- We believe capable people rarely wake up intending to make bad decisions.
- We believe every decision has a context that made it seem reasonable at the time.
- We believe recurring problems survive because something capable of recreating them remains unchanged.
- We believe symptoms deserve attention, but recurrence demands deeper investigation.
- We believe assumptions should be tested against evidence, not strengthened by repetition.
- We believe another solution isn't the answer when the problem itself hasn't been properly diagnosed.
- We believe complexity should be reduced, not added to.
- We believe organisations should become more capable through our involvement, not more dependent upon it.
- We believe organisations should stop paying for problems they've already paid to fix.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the name Karamawari mean?
The name is derived from the Japanese word karamawari (空回り) which translates to “spinning without engaging” or “turning without traction.”
Karamawari, when applied in a business context, aptly describes problems that recur, not through sheer lack of effort expended on a solution, but effort and cost that is wasted because the solution fails to solve the problem.
The company was named after the very challenge it solves whilst working alongside clients.
What kind of problems do you help with?
Karamawari helps CEOs, senior leadership and their teams understand why persistent problems keep returning. We work alongside your capable people to uncover the conditions, assumptions, behaviours, and decisions that continue to recreate the problem, so the organisation can stop applying temporary fixes and start changing what actually needs to change.
How are you different from a typical consulting firm?
Typical consulting often moves quickly from problem to solution: a roadmap, workstreams, operating model, benchmark, or implementation plan.
Karamawari starts earlier. We ask why the problem has survived previous solutions. Our focus is not simply what to do next, but why what has already been done has not changed the result.
How do you avoid becoming another consulting exercise?
We focus on persistence, not theatre. The central question is always: what keeps making this problem likely? If the work does not improve leadership’s understanding of why the problem keeps returning and what must change, it is not useful.
The aim is not more activity; it is traction.
Why have we struggled to solve this ourselves?
You may already have much of the knowledge needed to solve it. The difficulty is that the knowledge is usually fragmented across teams, functions, data, history, and lived experience.
Karamawari helps bring those pieces together safely and clearly. We do not replace your team’s judgement; we help sharpen it.
Will this make my team feel blamed or exposed?
No. This is one of the most critical points. The work is not about finding who got it wrong. It is about understanding why decisions made sense at the time and what conditions continue to recreate the problem.
Persistent problems are usually produced by patterns, not villains.
The aim is shared clarity, not blame.
We do not work with leaders who want to go on a witch hunt to make an exampel of or fire people who made honest mistakes.
Are you saying our previous decisions were wrong?
Not necessarily. Many decisions that contribute to persistent problems were reasonable in context. They were made with the information, pressure, incentives, assumptions, and constraints that existed at the time.
The question is not whether people were foolish. The question is whether those decisions still make sense, and whether the conditions that produced them are still shaping results today.
What do you mean by conditions, assumptions, behaviours, and decisions?
Conditions are the organisational and external factors surrounding the problem: structure, incentives, capability, governance, market pressure, customer expectations, and so on.
Assumptions are what people believe to be true.
Behaviours are the patterns of conduct those beliefs create.
Decisions are the choices, conscious or unconscious, that move the organisation from understanding to action.
Together, they explain why the problem keeps being recreated.
What is the first step?
The first step is usually a focused conversation to define the persistent problem, understand what has already been tried, and determine whether Karamawari is the right fit.
How long does a typical engagement with Karamawari take?
It depends on the complexity and sensitivity of the problem. But the aim is not to create a long discovery exercise.
Once a cost analysis is performed to provide a quotation, the enxt step is diagnosis
Karamawari is structured to move quickly to clarity while still going deep enough to avoid another superficial answer.
For many CEOs, the best starting point is a short, senior-led engagement focused on one persistent problem.
How much involvement will my team need?
Enough time to uncover the real pattern, but not so much that the organisation is distracted from running the business. The CEO and selected leaders are usually essential, because persistent problems often cut across functions. Others may be involved where their knowledge is critical.
The work should is always, respectful of time, and designed to extract insight without creating unnecessary noise.
No meeting or workshop will ever run longer than an hour because focus and input quality wanes after an hour, and we know you have other important things to do.
What will we get at the end of the engagement?
You can expect a clear explanation of why the problem has persisted, what conditions continue to recreate it, which assumptions and behaviours are involved, what decisions have reinforced it, and where leadership action should now be aimed. The most important output is shared clarity that leads to better action, not simply a report.
If you opt for the solution guidance engagement as well, Karamawari will also provide guidance to ensure the solution you develop will solve the problem as well as ongoing accountability sessions to ensure the solution is being implemented effectively.
How do you handle politically sensitive issues?
Carefully, directly, and with discretion. Sensitive issues are handled by focusing on the problem’s operating logic rather than personal accusation.
The question is not “who is at fault?” but “what conditions made this outcome likely, and what must now change?”
Do you provide recommendations or just diagnosis?
The work must lead to action. But Karamawari’s view is that action taken before the problem is properly understood often creates temporary relief rather than lasting resolution.
We first help leadership understand what keeps recreating the problem, then identify what must change to stop it returning.
Karamamwari will not recommend nor develop a solution but opting for the solution guidance engagement, Karamawari will provide workshops to ensure the solution you develop will solve the problem. This is crucial, as client developed solutions have better buy-in from stakehodlers
What if the real issue is leadership behaviour?
Sometimes leadership behaviour is part of the pattern, just as incentives, structures, processes, measures, or external pressures may be.
The point is not to personalise the problem. It is to understand how leadership signals, expectations, reactions, and priorities shape organisational behaviour. That can be examined constructively if the work is framed around results and shared learning.
What if the problem is cultural?
Culture is often where persistent problems become visible, but it is rarely useful to stop at “culture” as the explanation.
Karamawari looks at the conditions that produce the behaviours people call culture: incentives, authority, accountability, communication, trust, risk, pressure, history, and leadership signals. Culture becomes practical when it is connected to decisions and results.
What if we already know the problem?
If the problem is still returning, the current explanation may be incomplete. Knowing the symptom is not the same as understanding what keeps producing it.
Karamawari helps test whether the accepted explanation is sufficient, and where it may be missing the conditions that keep the problem alive.
What if we have already used consultants on this?
That is often exactly when Karamawari is most relevant. If previous consulting work produced recommendations, roadmaps, or initiatives but the problem persisted, the question becomes: why did those actions not change the result?
Karamawari helps examine the survival of the problem, not simply redesign another seemingly plausible but ineffective solution.
How do we know this will not just produce another report?
The value is not the report. The value is the clarity, alignment, and changed decision-making it enables. Any written output should serve that purpose.
Karamawari’s work should help leadership understand what keeps recreating the problem and what now needs to change.
How do you measure success?
Success can be measured through clearer leadership alignment, a stronger explanation of persistence, reduced recurrence of the problem, better decision quality, changed behaviours, sharper priorities, improved performance indicators, reduced risk, efficiency gains, cost reduction, profit increases and increased confidence that action is aimed at the right cause.
The measure should be agreed upfront based on the problem.
How do you measure success?
Success can be measured through clearer leadership alignment, a stronger explanation of persistence, reduced recurrence of the problem, better decision quality, changed behaviours, sharper priorities, improved performance indicators, reduced risk, efficiency gains, cost reduction, profit increases and increased confidence that action is aimed at the right cause.
The measure should be agreed upfront based on the problem.