Origins
Where this work was forged — and what it learned the hard way.
If you’ve found your way here, you’re probably carrying something that matters.
Not a casual idea.
Not a slide deck.
Something real — moving through real people, real systems, and real consequences.
This work didn’t begin as a brand or a method. It began inside rooms where things were technically working — and still not sitting right.
Health innovation pilots that checked every box and quietly stalled.
Strategic initiatives that moved forward while belief thinned out around the edges.
Stories that sounded strong, but couldn’t hold once real decisions were on the table.
If you’ve been there, you know the feeling.
Everything looks fine. And yet.
What Kept Breaking
It wasn’t intelligence. It wasn’t effort. And it certainly wasn’t lack of care.
As systems grew more complex — more stakeholders, more incentives, more scrutiny — interpretation fractured. Alignment became something people nodded through. Adoption was assumed instead of designed.
When coherence weakened, systems didn’t slow down to sort it out. They filled the gap.
- Authority stepped in.
- Metrics smoothed over uncertainty.
- Compliance took the place of commitment.
By the time failure showed up in the numbers, the system had already learned how to live with it.
What This Work Refuses
Entre-SLAM exists because of what those environments made clear.
- to confuse storytelling with shared understanding
- to mistake agreement for alignment
- to assume adoption will follow inspiration
- to package solutions for problems that haven’t been tested under real conditions
This work isn’t about convincing anyone of anything. It’s about designing meaning that can hold when it’s stressed.
What Had to Be Built Instead
So the questions changed.
Those questions don’t get answered with messaging. They require structure.
Out of that came the work you see here:
- the Codex, as a living record of patterns and failure modes
- narrative and decision systems designed together, not separately
- test environments that surface risk early
- the Narrative Performance Index, to make belief, alignment, and adoption visible before scale
None of this was built to impress. It was built to be useful when things get complicated.
Stewardship
This work is stewarded by Christa Chambers-Price.
Her experience spans health innovation, systems design, and narrative strategy across institutions, startups, and accelerator environments. But the throughline isn’t credentials.
It’s exposure.
Repeated exposure to moments where smart people were doing their best — and still watching things drift, stall, or fracture once reality intervened.
That’s where this work comes from. And that’s what it’s meant to serve.
Where This Leaves You
If any of this feels familiar, you’re not alone.
You may not be failing.
Your system may simply be asking for more than it was built to hold.
Take your time here. Read the Codex. Look at what we Build. Signal interest if and when the timing is right.
No rush. This work respects timing.
It was shaped by pressure — and a refusal to look away.