Performance = Design x Steering.

For years, engineers and scientists believed bicycles stayed upright because of speed. The faster the wheels spin, the more stable the bike.

It sounded right and so was repeated in textbooks. Then a group of researchers built a bicycle that according to the traditional explanation, should have been impossible to ride.

But it worked.

The conclusion was simple: Bicycles do not stay upright because of inertia.

They stay upright because they are constantly steered by the rider. Tiny corrections. Often so small the rider does not even notice. Left. Right. Left again. It's all in the rider's mind.

Balance is not a given. Balance is a process.

Agency relationships often look stable when the contract is signed, the agency is performing and dashboards look reassuring.

From the outside, the system appears upright like a speeding bycicle. But agency relationships are naturally unstable systems.

They are unstable because the environment changes: markets shift, incentives move, budgets vary, KPIs evolve, platforms launch new products, and procurement revises priorities. Each change is small and rational. But together they slowly tilt the system, often invisibly.

Geometry alone is not enough.

Many advertisers assume stability comes from the inertia of hiring a large agency on a three-year contract with a well-negotiated fee, thinking scale and structure will keep the bike upright.

But the bicycle experiment shows why this is not enough. Geometry is, of course, key. But stability comes from continuous steering.

A contract defines the geometry of the system. It sets incentives, allocates the risks and defines decision rights, but once the system starts moving, the environment changes. 

While platforms evolve, trading models shift, measurement frameworks change, and internal financial pressure increases, the contract remains static. No doubt misalignment appears. Rarely suddenly. It just drifts slowly. Before you notice, KPIs begin to favour short-term efficiency, planning becomes risk averse and innovation slows. 

The mistake is thinking governance is necessary only while assembling the bicycle, that is, while running the pitch, designing remuneration and negotiating the contract.

The risk is not in building the bicycle. The risk is in riding it!

Governance is what's missing.

Riders do not wait to steer the bycicle until they fall. They steer continuously through tiny adjustments that are barely visible. That is how balance emerges. Agency governance is that continuous steering. No matter how good the contract geometry is, the relationship does not stay upright only because of it.

Wise governance works through continuous revisiting: incentive calibration; KPI weighting; risk allocation; buying mechanisms; decision rights.

Not because the contract was wrong, but because the system moves.

A bicycle stays upright because someone is constantly steering. Agency relationships stay aligned because governance maintains alignment. 

Governance is not a moment. It is a practice.