Yellow. Obviously.

The story: They agreed on yellow. She meant a soft yellow. He delivered golden. Nobody lied. Nobody was careless. They just never discussed what yellow actually meant — because it seemed too obvious to need discussing.

What it means for organisations: The words that feel too obvious to define are the ones that create the most expensive surprises. Nobody questions "yellow." Nobody questions "on time," "quality," "done," or "soon" either. The alignment gap lives inside the words that feel self-evident — because those are precisely the ones no one thinks to discuss.