Journal · No. 002

Domino 29 is as tall as the Empire State Building

Christoph Svoboda · November 11, 2026 · 2 min

Domino number 29 is as tall as the Empire State Building. Each one only has to topple the next.

A domino can knock over another one about one and a half times its own size. Start with one five millimetres tall and make each next one half again as big. Twenty-nine steps from a fingertip to the New York skyline.

Organizations count on exactly that. A measure starts small at the top and is meant to gain force at every level: board, VP, director, manager, team.

But a domino only falls if the next one stands close enough. Between two levels there can be a gap. Same words, a different reading of what they mean. The director passes on “focus”. The managers hear “cut”. Nobody notices, because everybody used the right word.

At that gap the chain stops. The measure was announced. It was cascaded. It was never implemented. From the top, it looks like resistance at the bottom.

Same words, a different reading of what they mean. Nobody notices, because everybody used the right word.

A harder push on the first domino does not jump a gap. Somebody has to find it and close it.

Every measure travels one level at a time. One gap, and New York stays standing.

In the glossary: Shared ReferenceRelevance Cascading